Christmas illuminations at Tobu World Square
Looking for a nice place to enjoy Christmas lights in Japan? Why not head to Tobu World Square, a park full of 1:25 scale replicas of 42 UNESCO World Heritage sites (populated by 140,000 mini people)? For the last few years, Tobu World Square has been opening its doors for special evening displays of X-mas illuminations. I visited it last year while on a trip to Kinugawa Onsen, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Here is a news feature about Tobu World Square’s Christmas lights. As it is a bit long, I’ve provided a short list of notable events in the video clip that you can skip to if you are impatient:
- A look at the buildings as they appear during the day (1:05)
- Miniature Prime Ministers are on display in front of the miniature Diet Building! Mini Hatoyama is wearing his lucky gold necktie. (2:30)
- Cleaning the statue of liberty (4:40)
- Making sure the thousands of miniature people are clean (5:15)
- A look at how they paint the mini people (6:00)
- Cleaning the World Trade Center [The model was built before the 9/11 terror attacks, but they've kept it where it is, apparently as a symbol of peace.] (0:15)
- A test of the completed illuminations (2:56)
- A closer look at the illuminated buildings (5:50)
If you want to visit Tobu World Square, be sure to print out a coupon before you go. General visitor info can be found here, and a page about the illuminations can be found here (Japanese). If I remember correctly, Tobu World Square operates special evening buses from Kinugawa Onsen station to the park during the duration of the illumination event.
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