Travel notes of Nagasaki: Nagasaki Lantern Festival (Emperor’s Parade and Chinese Acrobatics)

[Introduction]

I traveled to Nagasaki Prefecture for three days and two nights. The main objective was to see “Nagasaki Lantern Festival. In this article, I will write about Emperor’s Parade and Chinese Acrobatics in Nagasaki Lantern Festival as part of day 3.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1 (1) Huis Ten Bosch: Flower Road and Amsterdam City etc.
* Day 1 (2) Huis Ten Bosch: Tower City and Harbor Town etc.
* Day 1 (3) Huis Ten Bosch: illumination in the evening
* Day 2 (1) Peace Park, Urakami Cathedral and Atomic Bomb Museum
* Day 2 (2) Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Confucian Shrine, Dutch slope and Meganebashi Bridge
* Day 2 (3) Nagasaki Lantern Festival: Shinchi Chinatown and Confucian Shrine
* Day 3 (1) Dejima and Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument
* Day 3 (2) Nagasaki Lantern Festival: Central Park [This article]
* Day 3 (3) Nagasaki Lantern Festival: Shian-bashi Bridge and Tojin Yashiki Ato

[Travel Date]
2016.02.11-13

[Main Part]

It was the third day in the afternoon of my trip to Nagasaki. Now I will watch Emperor’s parade in Nagasaki Lantern Festival. Actually, I looked forward to watching more than anything else.

Lunch

First of all, I had a lunch before going to the parade. I visited “Cafe & Bar Umino” at Amu Plaza Nagasaki, which was the terminal building of Nagasaki station.

I ordered fruits sandwich and milk shake.

So having lunch, I moved to the venue of the Emperor’s parade.

I arrived at the venue, but …

The Emperor’s parade recreates celebration of  New Year during Qing dynasty in China, in which the Emperor and the Empress marched in parade together with people. In Nagasaki Lantern Festival, the Emperor and the Empress are chosen among well-known people who have connection with Nagasaki. The Emperor’s parade takes place for 2.5 hours and the Chuo Park was the start point of the parade.

Now I arrived at the Chuo Park.

When I entered into the part with great anticipation …

I found the notice saying that the parade will be canceled due to weather condition and a talk event will be held instead 🙁

Although it was not raining at that moment, the weather forecast predicted rain soon.

Talk event

So, I decided to watch the talk event, alternatively.

Hostess of the talk event.

Cast of the Emperor’s parade.

The Emperor.

The Empress.

The talk event was finished.

Then, I decided to stay here and watch another show. Before the next show, I just took some photos around the venue.

Chinese Acrobatics

The next show was Chinese Acrobatics. Actually, this was my first time to watch Chinese Acrobatics live.

The show started.

Spinning plates.

He was something like a comedian.

Changing masks many times.

Flexible body.

Unicycle.

Using ladder.

Finale with all performers.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Emperor’s Parade and Chinese Acrobatics in Nagasaki Lantern Festival as part of day 3. Although the parade was changed to the talk event, I was satisfied with it. Chinese Acrobatics was also very fantastic 🙂

In the next article, which will be the final article of my trip to Nagasaki, I will write about other snaps in the evening in Nagasaki Lantern Festival.

［Related Link］
Nagasaki Lantern Festival (English)