A sea of blue lights

Holiday light displays in Japan, known as Illuminations, don't end with Christmas.  Most stay lit until at least New Years Eve, but many stay up through February.  They are almost always easily accessible by a train line and most are also free. 

My family enjoys going to Illuminations for a variety of reasons.  I would say the top reasons are because the light displays are beautiful and there is always a fun, cheerful energy found in the crowd.  It has become a tradition for us to attend Illuminations. 

Shibuya Blue Cave Illumination was inspired by the amazing Blue Grotto sea cave located on the coast of Capri in Italy.  The opening of the cave is located over the water.  Inside the caves appear blue because the light enters the cave through an underwater opening which is exactly under the mouth of the cave.  As the light passes through the water, the red light is filtered out and only the blue enter the cave.

We decided to take the train to Shibuya (the lights are equal distance from Shibuya and Harujuku).  After getting off the train, we walked through the crowded streets toward Yoyogi Park.  It was really easy to find our way, as the streets were lined with blue trees.  It was very beautiful.  However, it was nothing compared to the actual illumination.

When we walked up to the 600,000 blue LED lights strung up down an 800 meter path, we couldn't help but gasp in amazement.  I wanted to dance up and down the walkway.  But, honestly, there were too many people standing around taking photos with their phones to do that (and no music).  I didn't think it was too crowded in general, just not enough room for dancing.

About halfway down the path, there was a huge lit up sphere with Google written all over it.  Every minute or so, a song would play for about 45 seconds while bubbles would waft into the air.  People were required to use their phones to ask Google Assistant for an invitation to be able to go into the sphere.  My husband asked and was granted an invitation, so we waited in line for about 20 minutes to get our turn.

It was so much fun to play around in the sphere with the magic of the lights, music, and bubbles.  Some of the bubbles were filled with smoke, which added a neat extra bit of magic to the atmosphere.  I don't know who enjoyed it more - my husband and I or our son. 

The night was so much fun.  The lights were magical, reminding me of the year my stepmom took all the holiday ornaments off the Christmas tree and replaced them with blue lights and snowflakes.  I could have stayed for a very long time, just enjoying the moment and thinking about that Italian cave.