Photo: Courtesy Ashikaga Flower Park.
Japan doesn't do anything half-assed. Bullet trains. Fluorescent lamp fighting. Tournedos rossini on a Wendy's burger, for God's sake.
So, it stands to reason that holiday-light displays, having already reached the apex of competitive Disneyfication in the United States, would get even wilder in the Pacific. Yet, the arrays found in places like the Mie and Kanagawa prefectures have a sort of subdued artistry about them, even if they are grander in scale. The one above, taken at Ashikaga Flower Park, recreates its famous wisteria in glowing white lights. Spoon & Tamago collected a roundup of photos from around the country that avoid kitsch — not a single animatronic Santa is in sight — and come closer to something like Yayoi Kusama's
Fireflies on the Water.
Check out the rest of the lights here. (Spoon & Tamago)