Return of the Lantern Festival

Thank goodness we went back. Turns out, it got WAY better than what we saw (and much more crowded).

Lanterns had taken over Hamanomachi. There were small lanterns at the extreme ends that were handmade (likely by local school children). There were gorgeous ornate hanging lanterns throughout the rest of the street. Then, there were the fabric lantern sculptures - fish, people, animals, trees. They were huge and just amazing to behold. It was a festival of light. I had no idea such things were made.

There was even a little parade that went through. They had an emperor and empress (I'm guessing here...) and a bunch of children with cymbals and gongs and lanterns. Roo loved waving at everyone as they walked back and many of them were, of course, thrilled to wave back.

We walked through the arcade, up to one of the temples, though Nagasaki's Chinatown (where we got our own paper lantern to take home) and back down another street past Meganebashi (spectacles bridge).