Magical Lights

My family loves holiday lights.  We have a tradition of trekking all over creation to go see Christmas lights in all their glory.  We have our favorite destinations and usually find at least one new one to enjoy each year.  We also bundle up and walk around our neighborhood.  We know the houses that always go all out decorating their homes and always find a couple new ones to ogle at.  Since having my son, the tradition has only gotten better.  There is something about seeing magical lights with a child that makes them even better.

Continuing the tradition in Japan is quite simple.  There are tons of light displays around town.  We decided to meet in Roppongi after my husband was done with work to see a couple displays.

My son and I arrived at Roppongi Hills a couple minutes before 5:00.  We popped into a books store to look at the English language cookbooks.  They had 4 books to choose from.  I picked my favorite and quickly purchased it.  Now I have more new recipes to try!

After purchasing the book, we walked outside and sat down so I could organize my bag.  I then noticed it was 1 minute until 5:00.  So we sat and watched the trees.  Just like magic, all the trees on the street suddenly lit up.  They were wrapped with blue and white lights that were just stunning.  After gasping, and oohing and ahhing, we began to walk down the street.  It was so fun to watch my son dance and skip his way down the lit up path.  Suddenly, the lights started to dim and quickly the  street went dark.  There was an audible gasp as everyone wondered what happened to the beautiful lights.  Just as quickly as they went out, they came back up, but this time a brilliant red. 

We danced around a bit more, and then continued our walk to go meet daddy/hubby.  We wandered past a couple interesting tree displays, and even some trees for sale.  They were tagged as "Oregon Tree" for a low price of ¥24,840 ($220)!!!  Trying to recreate specific traditions in a country that doesn't celebrate them the same way is often cost prohibitive, or at least really difficult to swallow!

After meeting up with my husband, we walked to Roppongi Midtown to see more lights.  The lights in Midtown were stunning.  They started with trees wrapped in lights, even making some that looked like champagne glasses.

We wandered down the street, taking in the view, when we walked right up to a huge electronic display.  The lights blanketed a large area and danced around to music.  It was quite fun to stand with the crowd to watch. 

Afterwards, we walked over to a little area that had millions of laser lights dancing around.  We laughed and spun around in circles as we absorbed the moment of joy.  It was a little bit of magic.

There were also several tree creations in both Roppongi Hills and Roppongi Midtown.  Some were quite unique, while others made me smile.

One in particular made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  It wasn't for everyone, as my husband really didn't care for it.  This "tree" was made with Santa ornaments.  It wasn't really a tree, just a bunch of ornaments in the shape of a tree.  It made me think of my aunt who passed away many years ago.  She loved Santas and had a lovely collection.

Although Christmas is purely a commercial holiday in Japan, it is still a time of joy and fun for families.  And we're having a great time experiencing that special time together.