Need some lanterns =/= Ein paar Laternen gefällig? 👹🍣🎎 Wonderful Japan ENG-GER

DEUTSCH

Even after all these years I’ve been here, Japan still manages to inspire and surprise me. Time and again, even in my immediate surroundings, I discover something new that I hadn’t noticed before or that I had somehow overlooked. And on top of that, there are still quite a few things I’ve never really had the time or the right opportunity to do.

Like just some days ago, for example. We’d finally managed to go to the Lantern Festival, which actually takes place in our city every year. But as I said, sometimes even for things that seem obvious, the right opportunity just doesn’t come up.

But this year it finally worked out, and we were able to see the spectacle up close. Throughout the day, thousands of paper lanterns are set up in one neighborhood, and in the evening, small candles are lit inside them. Many of these paper lanterns are often decorated by hand beforehand and feature a wide variety of images and motifs.

What can I say? It really looks amazing, mainly because of the sheer number of lanterns—there are probably several thousand of them lining the streets. All around, there’s a street festival going on, with food and drinks, and the people around us seemed to be having a good time.

And so did we, and I was really glad that we’d finally taken the opportunity that day to see this spectacle with our own eyes. And somehow I had the feeling that it was a good thing we’d waited until now....