SENDAI Pageant of Starlight 2012

SENDAI Pageant of Starlight(SENDAI光のページェント) is being held near Sendai Staion in Miyagi Prefecture from December 7nd to 31st. It's an annual illumination event that citizen volunteers started in 1986.

仙台光のページェント２ by nimame /flickr
SENDAI Pageant of Starlight in 2011

仙台光のページェント５ by nimame /flickr
SENDAI Pageant of Starlight in 2011

  Last year, all of 550,000 LED bulbs became unusable due to the tsunami, but the event was performed by the aid of the illumination events' organizations all over Japan. The event got new 600,000 LED bulbs this year.






During its lighting ceremony, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred off the coast of Sanriku and tsunami warnings were issued for the coastal regions of the prefecture. However, the ceremony went on as planned.




Sendai Pageant of Starlight by yisris /flickr
SENDAI Pageant of Starlight in 2011

 This year's slogan is "Be smile!" The event attracted about 2.9 million tourists last year. Visitors can also enjoy watching the parade and skating at an outdoor skating rink.





Sendai Pageant of Starlight by yisris /flickr
SENDAI Pageant of Starlight in 2011

Christmas lights are shining bright.

Illumination spots in Japan:
http://xmas.yahoo.co.jp/spot/ (Japanese version only)
photos of Christmas illumination:
http://xmas.yahoo.co.jp/photo/

Some families even decorate the outside of their homes with illuminations. A neighbour's house is adorned with Christmas lights until Christmas Eve( not Christmas day!)

 The Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society (財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会) announced the Kanji of the year (今年の漢字 Kotoshi no Kanji) representing a sign of the times on December 12th. "Kin or kane(金, gold or money)" received first-place votes in balloting. Many people selected this character because of annular eclipse, a transit of Venus, the London Olympics and so on. In Japanese, an "annular eclipse" is "kinkan-nissyoku(金環日食)" which literally means "gold ring solar eclipse."  "Venus" is "kinsei(金星)" which literally means "gold star."