This silver week¹ Yashio City will have a magical evening of sky lanterns with fireworks. During the day they are planning a live stage, events and food trucks. It sounds very like the sky lantern event in Kawajima, but without Halloween and with fireworks! Please note though, that the lanterns are long sold out. But you can still enjoy the festivities and the wonderful sight of lanterns in the night sky. I can only imagine that the fireworks will add an extra bit of magic for a night to remember!
¹Silver week is a week with two public holidays in September. The public holidays are Respect for the Aged Day and the Autumnal Equinox. In 2023, they are on Monday September 18th and Saturday the 23rd respectively.
Sky Lantern X Fireworks
Unfortunately, the information for the event was released just before I went on holidays so I didn’t get to post it in time for the lantern application date. Moreover, Yashio City have since said that they were so overwhelmed with applications for the lanterns that they cut the application date earlier than intended. The Lanterns are LED so there is no flame used.
They planned the event for September, thinking it would be cooler than in summer. But we are having a very long, hot summer this year so there is a chance it will still be quite warm on the day of the festival. The evenings have finally started to cool though, so by the time they are launching the sky lanterns and fireworks it should be more comfortable temperatures.
The Lantern Festival with fireworks is on in Nakagawa Yashio Flower River, a beautiful riverside park with seasonal flowers. It is quite a famous park within Saitama Prefecture. Normally, in mid to late September you can see red spider lilies in the park.
Information
Event: Yashio Lantern Festival with fireworks 八潮ランタンフェスティバルwith花火
Date: Saturday September 23rd 2023. The event will be postponed until Saturday the 30th if there is bad weather on the 23rd.
Time: from 2 pm to about 7.40 pm, the lanterns will be floated from 7 pm and the fireworks from 7.15 pm.
Cost: the lanterns are sold out. There is no entrance fee to the venue.
Venue: Nakagawa Yashio Flower Park, 1009 Kizone, Yashio, Saitama 340-0813. View on Google Maps.
Access
By train and bus – You can get a bus to “Nakagawa Yashio Flower Park Entrance” 【中川やしおフラワーパーク入口】bus stop from Yashio Station, which is on the Tsukuba Express Line. A bus from the east exit of Soka Station, which is on the Tobu Skytree line, also stops at the same bus stop. It is also possible to walk from Yashio station, it takes about 30 minutes on foot.
this one sounds pretty special