Largest Illumination Event in the Greater Tokyo Area
A short one hour train ride from downtown Tokyo ushers you to the largest illumination spectacle in the Kanto area, the Sagamiko Illumillion.
Illumination events in Japan are immensely popular with Tokyo alone host to a total of 23 large scale illuminations this year. The most admired include the Omotesando Illumination with its striking champagne coloured LEDs and the Tokyo Dome city winter illumination that boasts over 2.2 million lights. In contrast the Sagamiko Illumillion in Kanagawa Prefecture leaves the rest for dead with more than 6 million decorative LED lights draining the local power grid.
Located at the curiously named ‘Sagamiko Resort Pleasure Forest’ the event is now in its eleventh year running. While the opening day attracted over a thousand visitors it’s rather secluded location west of Mount Takao means it only receives a relatively small splattering of visitors.
The largest attraction in the park is the Palace of Light an animated light and water show synchronized to classical music. The light displays are divided into themes such as “Sea of Light”, “Light of the Zoo” and “Light of the Flower Garden”. Along with amusement park rides, for an additional 400 yen fee a chair lift whisks passengers up to a mountain overlooking the complex. While most visitors arrive by car it’s also accessible by a local bus service from Sagamiko Station.
Access: From Sagamiko Station (JR Chuo Main Line) take a 8 minute bus ride. Entry fee: Adults 1000 yen / children 700 yen. November 3rd – April 7th, 2019 – Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 16:00 until 21:30.
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We don’t speak Japanese (other than a few words) but buses are the only place we’ve run into problems on past trips. Is the bus from Sagamiko to the illuminations like a shuttle service and is it likely to pose any issues finding it or getting off at the right stop if we can’t explain it in Japanese? Or do you know the romaji for Sagamiko resort pleasure forest? (hopefully it sounds less dodgy in Japanese) 🙂
I understand your pain! Thankfully it’s pretty straight forward, at Sagamiko Station find bus stop No. 1. (North Exit) it will be a regular bus service. It takes around 8 minutes and the bus driver will announce the stop “Sagamiko rizōto purejā foresuto” pay attention to the people getting off the bus. Here is the timetable: http://goo.gl/olac9B