390-Year Tri-Cultural Nagasaki Kunchi, Nagasaki Lunar New Year Lantern Festival & Saga International Balloon Fiesta

Celebrated annually from October 7 to 9 since 1634 as the autumn grand festival of Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki Kunchi is western Kyushu’s most dynamic festival, fusing Japanese (Wa), Chinese (Ka), and Dutch (Ran) cultural heritage inside an open-air arena. Participating Nagasaki neighborhoods (Odoricho) perform only once every seven years, spinning multi-ton wheeled sailing ships (Kawabune and Dutch ships), twirling 130-kilogram embroidered parasols (Kasaboko), and performing the 20-meter Dragon Dance (Jaodori) to the crowd’s roaring chants of "Mottekoi!" ("Bring it back / Encore!"). When winter arrives for the Lunar New Year (typically late January through February), central Nagasaki—from Shinchi Chinatown and the Spectacles Bridge (Megane-bashi) to Chuo Park—transforms into a glowing sea of crimson and gold during the Nagasaki Lantern Festival. Over 15,000 Chinese lanterns and ten-meter-tall illuminated zodiac sculptures light up the rivers and stone streets for fifteen days, accompanied by the Qing Dynasty Emperor’s Procession (Kotei Parade), Bian Lian mask-changing acrobatics, and lion dances beneath the night sky. Meanwhile, every early November along the wide banks of the Kasegawa River in Saga City, Kyushu’s autumn sky fills with over 100 colorful hot-air balloons from around the globe during the Saga International Balloon Fiesta—the largest international hot-air balloon competition in Asia, drawing nearly one million spectators. The most breathtaking spectacles occur during the early-morning Mass Ascension as a hundred balloons lift off simultaneously through river mist at sunrise, and the evening La Montgolfier Nocturne when tethered balloons ignite their burners in unison like giant glowing lanterns to live music.