Shibuya Illuminations

Only 1% of the Japanese population is Christian. Therefore, the Christmas holiday is more secular in nature. The more important holiday in Japan this time of year is the celebration of the New Year. The celebration begins towards the end of November and continues through the end of January. 

To celebrate the New Year the Japanese LOVE to decorate with lights. These public displays of lights are called winter illuminations and they can be found in all parts of the country, not just Tokyo. However, Tokyo was where we started. 

This afternoon, Dave and I ventured to Shibuya to observe the “Blue Grotto Shibuya” illumination. The illumination models Italy’s famous sightseeing spot – Blue Grotto. There are 550,000 blue LED lights lighting the trees along the major shopping street of Shibuya Koen-dori. The most spectacular part of the illumination is 250m stretch close to Yoyogi Park. Here the street has been covered with a mirrored surface to reflect the blue lights. 

It was beyond beautiful. 

A couple before pictures. 

The lighting occurs daily from 5:00pm to 11pm. We arrived at 4:50pm. My timing was pretty amazing. Although, I didn’t really plan it out, other than the train route. 

In fact, we walked Shibuya Crossing several times and stopped to eat a pizza and have a beer all before heading towards the lights.  

This tour guide deserves an A+ and a gold star! We took a total of 5 different trains on our route and never took the wrong one. I’m moving my status from amateur Japan train rider to apprentice in training.

Enough with the self proclaimed kudos- on with the lights! 

I’m not sure if you can tell, the police tried to keep the crowd back when the lights were first turned on for photographers. Shortly after, we were allowed to walk along the street. It was very crowded, very beautiful and very fun! 

On the other side, was a Spanish festival. Again completely unplanned on my part. 

We walked back through the lights and made our way home. It was a fun evening. We are excited to find more illuminations over the next couple of months! 

Perhaps the only thing to make this winter illumination better would be to have Blue Christmas playing in the background.