Winter in Japan: Illuminations, Bounenkai, and Nabe

Spring in Japan brings cherry blossom viewing, summer brings firework festivals and yukata, and fall brings the glorious changing leaves. What does winter bring in Japan? It brings hot food, end of the year parties, and most of all, illuminations. If there is one thing that Japan does better than the U.S. in terms of holiday spirit, it’s definitely illuminations.

Since there is no Thanksgiving in Japan, you can expect to see the Christmas decorations come out in early November. Stores put up Christmas trees, streets become lined with lights, and German Christmas markets start popping up as soon as Halloween ends. Some Christmas illuminations are famous like the Luminarie in Kobe or the Hikari Renaissance in Osaka, but you can stumble upon all sorts of illuminations in unexpected places.

Big Christmas tree in Kyoto Station.

This year, I made it a point to actually go see a big illumination, the Hikari Renaissance in Nakanoshima, Osaka. I wanted to go see the Luminarie in Kobe, but it was only going on for a short time, so I wasn’t able to make it. I’ll try again next year. Another one I want to try going to is the one at Osaka Castle, but that one costs money, so I’m putting it off for now.

Anyway, about the one in Nakanoshima, I went to go see it with my boyfriend. Going to see an illumination is a very popular couple thing to do in Japan. Although it was pretty and made me feel the holiday spirit, it was actually a very quick event, taking only like 15 minutes. The Hikari Renaissance has not only a tunnel of lights, but 3D mapping on the city hall and a small German food market. I got to enjoy the lights over a hot cup of sangria.

Tunnel of lights.

The lights changed and flashed in tune to music.

Hikari Renaissance.

Hikari Renaissance.

3D Mapping.

Hot Sangria.

As a bonus, the traveling Rubber Duck sculpture designed by Dutch artist, Florentijn Hofman is in Nakanoshima this winter, so we went to check that out after the illumination. I think I might have been more excited about that haha! It was really big and cute!!

The Rubber Duck!!

In the Namba and Shinsaibashi area of Osaka, you can find all sorts of illuminations, most impressive being the one at Namba Parks shopping center where you can see a huge waterfall of lights.

Also, the Twilight Fantasy illumination in Osaka Station may be small, but it’s worth going up the few flights of escalators to check out if you are at the station.

Midosuji Street Illumination.

Dontonbori.

Namba Parks.

Namba Parks,

Giant waterfall at Namba Parks.

With friends. :)

Twilight Fantasy.

Twilight Fantasy.

Besides Illuminations, winter in Japan brings hot food, particularly nabe (hot pots). I made it a point this winter to eat a lot of nabe because it’s something that I hadn’t done much the previous winters. I even made a Korean kimchi nabe at home!

This year I went to my first actual nabe party. It was crab nabe, and omg it was so delicious! It was my first time to eat zosui which is when they add egg and rice to the broth and make a sort of porridge. That was super tasty!

Kani (crab) nabe.

Ughhhhh so gooooood!

Zosui.

Last, with the ending of the year comes end of the year parties called bounenkai. They are an essential part of Japanese working culture. They can also be held among friends or members of social clubs. Coworkers gather together to feast and drink in order to forget the troubles of the working year. Since I’ve always gone home for Christmas break, I never got to participate in my work’s bounenkai until this year. We rented out a whole Italian restaurant. The food was sooo good! Brick oven pizza, pastas, etc. And most importantly…all you can drink wine! We also played a quiz game inch which one of the questions everyone had to make guesses about me haha! It was fun! Of course the bounenkai was followed by a nijikai  (after party) where I bought a round of tequila for my coworkers haha! God I love Japanese drinking culture. It’s so different from America.

So ya, those are some things you should know about winter in Japan! If you are ever here in winter, definitely check out an illumination and treat yourself to a big nabe!