Famous altar of Guan Yu at Minato-koen Park. I was flabbergasted to see peculiar gifts offered at the altar! (Photo: Masayoshi Hirose)

Guan Yu Altar at Chinese New Year

Lantern Festival at Shinchi Chinatown in Nagasaki

Takako Sakamoto   - 1 min read

On February 21st in 2015, I traveled to Nagasaki to see Nagasaki Lantern Festival. I had wanted to see this famous winter festival in Nagasaki for so long and at last my wish was fulfilled! First, I headed for Minato-koen Park in Shinchi Chinatown, which is the main venue of the festival. I lit an incense stick and prayed at the altar of Guan Yu, the hero of 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', a famous Chinese novel. Unfortunately a cold rain was falling incessantly, but it made the wet lanterns cast gleaming, brilliant lights. What a gorgeous festival of lights this is!

Takako Sakamoto

Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto

I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...