nagasaki, you lantern me on!

nagasaki has a famous lantern festival to coincide with the Lunar new year. it’s primarily in China town, but there are lanterns hanging all over the downtown shopping arcade. My favourite are the lanterns that were made by school kids in all sorts of figures and shapes. There’s even a float that runs along the streetcar tracks starting in the afternoon while the festival is running…

a streetcar float

Anyway, the festival runs from January 29, and so on Sunday, after I returned to Nachan’s care, we went to dinner with Aya-chan and Pan-chan at Monk Project — the restaraunt owned by the woman whose daughters I teach at Seido. I had their speciality champon. It was great.
champion of champon
aya and panchan at monk project


Then we walked over to china town. First we walked through the town and had a bit of fun.
panchan^2
jenn and panchan


Then to the main site of the festival. There were all sorts of lit up statues. It was really beautiful.
the entrance gate to china town and a big dragon
us and the lantern queen
lanterns (and fish)

There was even a huge sculpture made of dishes.
a huge sculpture made of dishes

My favourite was the cleanup crew. Especially the guy using a thin roll of scotch tape to pick up the tiny pieces that the sweepers didn’t catch.
the guy on the ground is using scotch tape to pick up stuff. woah.

I bought a Momo (Peach) Castella cause it was really pretty. I took a picture with the stall owner who clearly thought I was insane.

momo!

Me, Nachan and Miki shared it on Monday night. Watching Nachan butcher it was slightly traumatic, but delicious it was.

nachan butchers it
miki pretends to knit

The festival runs until the 12th, so hopefully I’ll get back there before it’s over. Momore Momo please!

2 Responses to “nagasaki, you lantern me on!”

  1. Mom Says:

    Jenn…that food item you are eating. Is it a fruit or a cupcake?

  2. jenn Says:

    it’s a cupcake – castella is a type of cake here, and it was decorated to look like a peach. to my surprise it tasted totally un-peachy.

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