Yurakucho Winter Illumination 2011-12
Time for new Christmas illumination, this time around Yurakucho Station in Tokyo. This is one of the smaller ones, advertised in a pamphlet by Japan Rail. Plus: I revisited the Godzilla statue!
Yurakuchu is within walking distance of Tokyo Station and is a stop on the Yamanote Line. It is in a huge commercial area which provides a neon light illumination “festival” of its own every night. It’s a challenge to stand out in such a sea of light, but the Yurakucho Winter Illumination (until January 15) has a famous sponsor. Can you guess which?
![](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Yurakucho-Winter-Illumination-2011-12-7-1024x768.jpg)
Whether it’s because of Coca-Cola or not, the color helps making the this illumination stand out from the rest. I do admit that it’s nice to see another color instead of the usual gold, white or blue. However, the color is the only innovation of this festival.
![Yurakucho Illumination - 06.jpg](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Yurakucho-Winter-Illumination-2011-12-5-768x1024.jpg)
What’s the redeeming quality of this illumination besides the color? It’s the location. Next Thursday (12.22) the anticipated Tokyo Lightopia will start near Tokyo Station. There are also a lot of restaurants near Yurakucho Station – not only Japanese, Chinese or Korean ones, but even German ones!
![Yurakucho Illumination - 05.jpg](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/german-restaurant-1024x768.jpg)
The illumination near the Imperial Hotel (also mentioned in the pamphlet) was disappointing. I went to the Sony building next which promoted “Dream Xmas 2011”. Their christmas tree looked more like an egg, but they had an interactive screen/webcam which animated a lot of middle-aged Japanese men to do funny things in front of it just to get some digital reaction.
![Yurakucho Illumination - 03.jpg](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Yurakucho-Winter-Illumination-2011-12-17-1024x768.jpg)
And since I was already in the area, I thought I would pay Godzilla a visit. This is one tiny statue, not the least bit frightening and can be easily overlooked.
![Yurakucho Illumination - Godzilla.jpg](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/godzilla-statue-768x1024.jpg)