Arashiyama "Illumination"

I went back to Arashiyama a little while ago (it's outside of Kyoto where I had some pictures of autumn leaves). During December a lot of places have Christmas lights up, which the Japanese refer to as "Illumination". That doesn't really capture how strange it sounds when most people say it; they tend to draw it out a lot more. Some pictures:



This is the bridge in Arashiyama. If anyone has seen the Korean movie "The Host" this area looks pretty similar to where the monster first started attacking people.



This giant lantern was one of several in the area. I think the local schools made these.



A bamboo forest near the bridge. Most people don't realize this, but bamboo naturally lets off a green light at night in a surprisingly common form of bioluminescence.