Skiers and snowboarders who pass through JR Nagano Station should make the effort to take a short side trip to nearby Zenkoji Temple during the week starting Saturday. Wooden buildings that line the street approaching the popular temple will be lit up in five colors for the annual Nagano Tomyo Festival.
The 10-year-old festival aims to spread messages of peace in line with the spirit of the Olympic Games that Nagano hosted in 1994. During the event, seven traditional structures, including the temple’s main building and wooden gates, will be lit up in five different colors by well-known lighting designer Motoko Ishii, with a closing ceremony scheduled on the night of Feb. 17. Various vendors along the street will offer hot dishes and sweets. In addition, some 140 participants of a kirie (artistic paper-cutting) contest will have their works displayed on lanterns, to be placed on streets leading up to the temple.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.