[Fawn Diary] A Report on Nara's Seasonal Tradition: My Nara Tōkae Experience ♡ Highlights & Tips

Hey 芝麻包, Yotsuma~!!

Sorry as always for the late-night post!

Japan's Obon holiday is already underway —

daycare is closed for a full week through next weekend, so I've been spending my days chasing after my endlessly energetic son, lol.

Anyway, today's diary is a report on something I absolutely had to share with you all:

"Nara Tōkae" (the Nara Lantern Festival)! ✨✨

During my debut stream, someone in chat commented "Oh really?! I had no idea!" when I mentioned this fact:

about 1,300 years ago, Nara was actually the capital of Japan!

(Hard to imagine now, lol, but back then it was totally cutting-edge!)

Thanks to that history, Nara is home to a huge number of Japan's important cultural properties and World Heritage sites — and for just 10 days each summer, the whole town gets wrapped in the glow of roughly 20,000 candles for one of Nara's biggest annual events!

The festival covers the whole Nara Park area, and today I want to walk you through the highlights and some tips for each spot ◎

Lighting hours run from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM, and trains around that time get seriously packed!

So I'd recommend getting there early and grabbing a bite at a convenience store beforehand, even though there are food stalls along the way, since you'll end up walking a lot.

(Definitely wear sneakers! You'll be walking through some pretty natural, grassy areas too.)

Also, there are no public trash cans on the streets in Japan.

So if you don't want to carry your trash around, look for a convenience store with an eat-in area!

(As of August 2024, there's eat-in seating on the 2nd floor of the 7-Eleven next to the bus stop on the north side of Kintetsu-Nara Station, and also at the 7-Eleven inside the Nara Prefectural Government building.)

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First up, the "front entrance" of the festival, so to speak — Sarusawa Pond!

This pond is famous for its Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, held in memory of a woman who drowned herself in the pond after falling out of the emperor's favor. (Source: Mid-Autumn Moon Festival — Uneme Festival / Uneme Shrine (a sub-shrine of Kasuga Taisha) | Nara City Tourist Association)

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52 stone steps, gentle candlelight ringing the pond,

and, right on the water's edge... a Starbucks. Lol ♡

Side note — this "front entrance" area used to also include the neighboring Kōfuku-ji temple,

but its star attraction, the Five-Story Pagoda, is currently undergoing its first restoration in 120 years and will stay closed to the public until around 2031...!

So here's a photo from last year instead.

It really is gorgeous too...

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Next, even though it's roughly the middle of the route geographically, I want to introduce what might be the single best date spot at the festival: Ukimidō!

This is an octagonal hall floating on the pond, and it's a popular photo spot even outside festival season!

And get this — you can actually ride a super traditional-style boat here! ✨✨

Surrounded by the romantic lighting around Ukimidō, with little paper lanterns hung on the boats too, the whole atmosphere is just wonderful!

(I wish I'd shot it landscape, ugh 😭)

That said, the line here is brutal every year —

when we showed up around 7:30 PM we were already told "even if you get in line now, you won't make it on before closing," so get in line early, lol.

Also, totally off the record — Ukimidō is actually THE spot where Nara students go to skip class, lol.

Unlike Osaka or Kyoto, there's nowhere around here you can sneak off to for fun.

So they read books at the hall with the blue sky as a backdrop. Even the way people cut class here is old-fashioned.

Next, the Asajigahara venue.

This is where they set up a live performance stage — when we went, there happened to be a flute and harp performance... it was gorgeous!

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This venue's special feature is that it's not just candles — there are also larger art installations.

Since this was an Olympic year, there was even an Olympic rings display! 💓

Next is Kasuga Taisha! Just a heads-up that the Tōdai-ji and Kasuga Taisha areas in particular only run on limited dates, so keep that in mind.

(This year it was only open on the 13th and 14th, so I'm using last year's photos for this area too!)

That said, the row of food stalls along the approach to Kasuga Taisha was open this year!

Skewered Kobe beef and other pretty substantial food options were all there!

Beyond the stalls, there are also nearly-outdoor tea houses nearby — great if you want to enjoy some ramune soda or shaved ice!

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I really wish I'd been able to see this area in person this year, but the "Tōdai-ji" area is absolutely breathtaking.

Across its huge grounds, candlelight creates massive art installations!

(I forgot to snap a photo, but some years there are heart shapes or even "Tōkae" spelled out in candlelight!)

And beyond that, you can also see the lit-up Tōdai-ji itself in the background — an absolutely satisfying sight, guaranteed.

Alright, this ran pretty long, but that wraps up today's report!

By the way, last year my son was still just 1 year and 6 months old and only just starting to walk, so we covered 8,450 steps mostly carrying or piggybacking him.

This year he walked about two-thirds of it on his own, and I was so moved!

That said, now that I'm working remote this year, doing 8,000 steps again after a long time really wore me out...

and with my son having gained a good amount of weight over the year, plus carrying him once we were both exhausted in the second half... talk about a workout! Lol

There's also a "one visitor, one lantern" program where visitors can light their own candle to contribute!

The donations collected go toward covering the cost of candles for next year's festival, so please consider joining in if you get the chance!

Alright, that's it for today's diary entry!

Thank you all so much, as always!

If you're in Nara this summer, I highly recommend checking out this event!!!

P.S. That white deer that keeps popping up on my Twitter is the white version of Shikamaro-kun, the mascot of the Nara City Tourist Association! (Normally he's orange.)

Nara has a legend about a white deer, and 烈芝麻's design is actually based on that legendary "white deer"!

That's part of why I love this white version of Shikamaro-kun so much ♡

Shops in Nara tend to close early, so if you want to grab your own Shikamaro-kun, I'd recommend heading to a souvenir shop before evening! Lol ♡