【2019-2020】6 Tokai Area Illumination Shows Open in March!

Toki no Sumika Illumination – Hikari no Sumika (House of Light)

Hikari no Sumika

Hikari no Sumika is an illumination event held at the Gotemba Kogen Resort “Toki no Sumika” in Gotemba city, Shizuoka prefecture.
Entering its 18th year, the theme of this year’s "Hope, Beyond the Light". It is inspired by the magnificent universe, galaxy and starry sky.

The show is split into two areas. The free area consists of the “Tunnel of Light,” “Twin Trees,” and “Mt. Fuji Light Festival” illuminations. There is an admission fee for the other area, “Royal Palace Hill.”

The 450m long Tunnel of Light is a must-see spot

Tunnel of Light

The highlight of the free area is the 450 meter long “Tunnel of Light,” the longest illumination tunnel in Japan.
An elegant ballroom scene is set with a shimmering chandelier, a champagne tower, and a crown glittering with jewels.
The “Twin Trees” illumination displays a 120-year-old fir tree overlayed with a tree made up of white lights.

Twin Trees

Nearby are illuminations of auspicious new year symbols, like the “First Dream Bridge,” “Bronze Giant Hawk Statue,” and “Japan’s Number One, Fuji-San.”
The “Mt. Fuji Light Festival” illumination includes contributions from businesses and schools. The creative blue-based exhibitions are guaranteed to keep you entertained.

Enter the fantasy world of the “Royal Palace Hill”

Light of Versailles

The highlight of the “Royal Palace Hill” area is the fountain laser show, “Light of Versailles,” that has over 1,200,000 viewers.
This year, a new multimedia show was created with the combination of music and lasers.
The powerful fountain stream reaches up to 150 meters high, the highest in Japan.
The 3D image, light, sound, and water interweave creating creates a dynamic show that is sure to move you.

Event Details

◆Duration：2018.10.26 (Sat.) to 2020.3.15 (Sun.)
◆Times：16:30〜22:00（depends on the season）
◆Entrance fee：Free（Priced area：Adult 1,000 yen　Child 200yen）
◆Parking：2,600 spots
◆Accommodations：Toki no Sumika Hotel・Gotemba Kogen Hotel・Hotel Brush Up・Blueberry Lodge・Slow House Villa
◆Official site

Daytime Date Spots

Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato – Sound Illumination

Sound Illumination (Photo by Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato)

The Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato is located in Kakegawa, a city in the Southern region of Shizuoka prefecture. This resort hotel, golf course, and other facilities are surrounded by an enormous 140 hectares of nature.

The “Sound Illumination Colors of the Flowers and Seasons” light show that sparkles with 2 million lights is open from October 27 to June 30 in the courtyard of the main lobby of Hotel North Wing.

Sound Illumination - A fusion of light and sound

Lit-up structures and flower illuminations (Photo by Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato)

Pass the “Gate of Light” to enter a world of fantasy, a river of light flows through a garden depicting beautiful scenes of each of the four seasons.
Structures that light lighting up the night sky include the “Chapel Garden", “Arch of Light", “Globe Surrounded by Roses", “Sculpture of Light", and the “Rose Bouquet”. The "Rose Bouquet" stands at 5 meters, which is the highest of all structures.
Songs about flowers are linked to play and collaborate with the illuminations lights for a highly enjoyable light show.

Rose garden viewing deck (Photo by Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato)

The “Rose Garden Viewing Deck” and “Stars and Roses Viewing Deck” provide great views of the whole show. Visitors can sit back and enjoy the show from the benches and swings there.

Stop by the Shiba Terrace Restaurant

Shiba Terrace Restaurant (Photo by Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato)

The Shiba Terrace Restaurant is a food court located inside the park. Visitors can enjoy the illuminations while eating here.
The temperature can drop to 6℃ in Kakegawa city during March. Keep warm with the hot soup and pizza.

Event Details

◆Duration：2018.10.26(Sat.) to 2020.3.31 (Tue.)
◆Times：Sunset to 21:00 (Last entry at 20:30)
◆Entrance fee：Adult 800 yen〜1,200 yen ・Elementary school student 400 yen〜700 yen
*Fees vary by season
*Set tickets for the hot springs, dinner buffet, and hot soup are also available.
◆Parking： 200 yen per spot
◆Accommodations：Tsumagoi Resort Sai no Sato
◆Official site

Daytime Date Spots

Take a Trip on Oigawa Railways's Retro SL Trains!Get the details here!

Izu Highlands GRANILLUMI ～5th Season～

Izu Highlands GRANILLUMI 5th Season (Photo by the Shaboten Park Group)

The Izu Granpal Amusement Park is located in the Eastern region of Shizuoka in Itō city. The park is as big as 5 Tokyo Domes, and has many fun attractions, including go-carts and a golf course.

The Izu Highlands GRANILLUMI 4th Season is held at this park. 6 million lights shine bright in a special designated area nearly as big as 2 Tokyo Domes. This GRANILLUMI light show is very popular, ranking first two years in a row in Walker + magazine’s national illumination rankings.

Japan’s first “Interactive Illumination”

The Izu Highland GRANILLUMI light show can be appreciated from afar like any other, but visitors can also interact and become part of the show while enjoying the rides and attractions. This “interactive illumination” style is the first of its kind.
The “Zipline 〜Meteor RYUSEI〜” attraction is one of the highlights, allowing visitors to glide right over the illuminations.

Zipline 〜Meteor RYUSEI〜(Photo by Shaboten Park Group)

Challengers get a bird’s eye view of the flashing illuminations during a 400 meter round trip of the zipline. They can also film their glide using the smartphone video shooting tool that the park lends out.

Be sure to keep a look out for the three new and improved light shows that occur on ten minute intervals.
The “Full Color Laser Show” uses smoke and lasers to create a glowing aurora.

Full Color Laser Show (Photo by Shaboten Park Group)

Visitors can get a casual yet fantastical experience of the aurora, which are usually only visible from Arctic regions.

Colorful fish dance to the music in the “Light and Sound Show.” The “Grand Vision Show” features a collaboration between visuals on a massive 60 meter wide LED display and music. Viewers will also want to watch out for a giant skyscraper that will appear during the show.

Grand Vision Show (Photo by Shaboten Park Group)

Other illuminations to see here are the “Sweets Lantern” featuring huge, softly-lit cakes, candy, and macarons, and the “Lantern Flower Field” with 2 meter flower lanterns in bloom all over.

New “Illumi de Zoo” spot

New this season is “Illumi de Zoo", where visitors can feed the nocturnal kinkajous from the adjacent Izu Shaboten Zoo.

Kinkajous (Photo by Shaboten Park Group)

There are also guinea pigs, rabbits, and hedgehogs. This is a great chance to see these nocturnal animals in action since they usually sleep during the day.

Event Details

◆Duration：2018.10.19(Sat.) to 2020.8.31(Mon.) *planned
◆Times：Varies by season(Last entry is 45 minutes before closing time)
◆Entrance fee：Middle school and over 1,500 yen ・Elementary school students 800 yen
*Day tickets cannot be used at night and vice versa.
◆Parking：Free at night（1,000 spots）
◆Accommodations：Hotel Ambient Izu Kogen・Village Izukogen・Hotel Ravie Kawaryo
◆Official site

Daytime Date Spots

Laguna Ten Bosch – Shijo Saiko no Fuyu Laguna (Laguna’s Brightest Winter Ever)

Laguna Ten Bosch “Shijo Saiko no Fuyu Laguna” (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

Lagunasia is located in Gamagōri city, the Southern region of Aichi prefecture. The amusement park is part of the Laguna Ten Bosch resort complex, which also includes an outlet mall, hotel, and other facilities.
The “Shijo Saiko no Fuyu Laguna” light show that mixes illuminations and projection mapping is open until March 31.

See the Five Main Illuminations

At Lagunasia, there are five distinct illuminations.
The “Promenade of Light” illumination features 8m x 12m domes floating above the wave pool. The blue and white lights represent the shimmering sea.

Promenade of Light (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

The dazzling dome glimmers with lights and stained glass with accommodating music.
The second show is the “Blue Palace”. Visitors can enjoy the beautiful marine blue lights as they walk inside and explore.

Blue Palace (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

In the flower-themed illumination, “Jewel Garden", underwater lights are scattered throughout the beach. These flowers of light sparkle and shine like jewels on the night beach.

Jewel Garden (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

The flowers in the garden are also decorated and lit up, giving them a dream-like quality quite different from their daytime look.
Over the connecting bridge to to the flower lagoon is the “Lucky Rainbow Arch” illumination. A million lights glimmer and dazzle here, leading people across the bridge.

Lucky Rainbow Arch (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

The “Grassland of Light” features 3,500 lanterns hat lights up the grassy area, which surrounds ing the Symbol Tree. The lights change with the music during the show.

Grassland of Light (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

Get a great shot at the “Hikari no Photo Spot”

Hikari no Photo Spot (Photo by Laguna Ten Bosch)

There are four spots in the park where visitors can take memorable photos in front of the illuminations. They can be found at the Lucky Rainbow Arch, Grassland of Light, Blue Palace, and at the entrance of the Flower Lagoon.

Event Details

◆Duration：2018.11.2 (Sat.) to 2019.3.31 (Tue.)
◆Times：Sunset to Closing
◆Viewing（Entrance） Fee：Adult 2,250 yen　Elementary school student 1,300 yen　Preschooler 800 yen
◆Parking：800 yen per spot (Approximately 1,000spots）
◆Accommodations：Henn Na Hotel Laguna Ten Bosch・Hotel Laguna Hill
◆Official site

Daytime Date Spots

Nabana no Sato Illumination

Nabana no Sato

Nabana no Sato is a flower park located in Kuwana city in northern Mie prefecture. It is part of the Nagashima Resort which includes Nagashima Spa Land and Mitsui Outlet park Jazz Dream Nagashima.
The Nabana no Sato illuminations are some of the biggest and best in Japan. In illumination rankings by international travelers, they have placed first three years in a row and also placed first two years in a row in the professional performance rankings.

Enjoy the beautiful illumination show “JAPAN〜Japanese Scenes〜”

JAPAN〜Japanese Scenes〜

The main event is the new “JAPAN〜Japanese Scenes〜” light show featuring beautiful scenery from all around Japan. This is a large-scale illumination with a height of 35 meters and a width of 155 meters.

There are 14 scenes, each unique to Japan and many of which feature Mt. Fuji. Starting with a creation story, the show moves on to gorgeous scenes of Mt. Fuji in each of the four seasons, famous views from around Japan, scenes from the tale of Urashima Taro, and even ukiyo-e scenes.

Impressively, the show is done entirely with the latest LED lights and no projection mapping.
Another popular spot here is the “Brilliant Road”, a 200 meter long tunnel of light.

Tunnel of Light “Brilliant Road

The LED light sockets are shaped like flowers, a fitting motif for a flower park.

The flower LED lights glowing brightly

There is another 100 meter tunnel of light called “canola flower”.
The tunnel is made to look like a never-ending field of canola flower.This flower's yellow color will reminds you of nice spring atmosphere. The canola flower tunnel is a wonderful sight to behold.

Aquatic illumination Great River of Light

The aquatic illumination at the lake in the middle of the park is also worth seeing. The “Great River of Light” illumination is among the biggest of the relatively rare aquatic type.
The river of light is 5m wide and made up of the latest LED lights with 64 billion colors shimmering along its 120m length. It also mimics the flow of the nearby Kisogawa river.
The beauty of nature and the seasons can be felt while viewing this illumination.

Synergy of the lights and flowers

Weeping plum trees (Photo by Nagashima Resort Co. Ltd.)

At Nabana no Sato, the flowers in the park are also lit up, so be sure to check them out in addition to the illuminations.

Kawazu Sakura Trees (Photo by Nagashima Resort Co.Ltd.)

Weeping plum trees bloom towards the end of February, followed by Kawazu Sakura trees in the middle of March, and tulips at the end of March. These flowers are all beautiful under the blue sky of the day, but there’s something special about seeing them lit up at night as well.

Tulips (Photo by Nagashima Resort Co. Ltd.)

Check out the official site hereto see which flowers are currently in bloom.

Event Details

◆Duration：2018.10.19 (Sat.) to 2019.5.6 (Wed.)
◆Times： 09:00〜21:00 *Some specific days open till 22:00
◆Entrance fee：Adult 2,300 yen (Includes a cash voucher for 1,000 yen that can be used at the park)
　　　　　Preschool and under is free
*Tickets can be purchased at the park entrance and at Seven Eleven or Family Mart convenience stores.
◆Parking：Free（5,700 spots）
◆Accommodations：Hotel Hanamizuki・Garden Hotel Olive・Hotel Nagashima
◆Official site

Daytime Date Spots

Menard Aoyama Resort – Light-up event 2020

(Photo by Menard Aoyama Resort)

The final illumination spot on the list is the Menard Aoyama Resort located 600m above sea level on the Aoyama Plateau in central Mie prefecture. This resort is operated by the Japanese Menard cosmetics company.
The illuminations feature 250,000 LED lights and 150 large lamps on the vast grounds spanning 3,300,000㎡. The light show is open all year round, and between November 10 and March 31 there is a special winter version.

Showcasing the natural beauty of the plateau resort

Illuminations enhancing the natural scenery(Photo by Menard Aoyama Resort)

The illuminations at Menard Aoyama Resort enhance the beauty of the surrounding natural scenery. The trees and buildings of the vast grounds are colorfully lit on a scale that can’t be done in a city.

In the “Sparkling Garden,” the trees on the hill are illuminated. Next to it are the softly lit “Shining Trees”

Enjoy a lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant

View from the French restaurant La Grasse (Photo by Menard Aoyama Resort)

The best view of the illuminations is from the entrance of Hotel Schönvert or from the parking lot where the entirety of the show can be seen.
Another great spot is the French restaurant, La Grasse, inside Hotel Schönvert. The illuminations can be easily viewed through the large glass windows. Here, visitors will be able to make a memorable night while enjoy the illuminations while dining on delicious French cuisine.

Event Details

◆Duration（2020 version）：2018.11.23 (Sat)~
*Lights are up all year round.
◆Times：Sunset〜22:00
◆Entrance fee：None
◆Parking：Free
◆Accommodations：Hotel Schönvert・Menard Aoyama Hotel・Cottage “Swiss Village”・Wafukan “Utatsukasa”
◆Official site

Daytime Date Spots

Now Enjoy the Illuminations with a Date

Those are the top 6 illumination spots in the Tokai region. Illuminations are most often seen during the Christmas season, but there are spots where they can be viewed until summer or even year-round. You can still make it! If you have a special someone in mind, head to one of these spots for a very romantic illumination date.