Nagasaki Lantern Festival

For 17 nights every winter, Nagasaki's Chinatown and the streets around it turn into a sea of red and gold — something like 15,000 lanterns strung up over Shinchi Chinatown, the Hamamachi arcade, and the river.

It grew out of the Chinese New Year celebrations held by the city's Chinese community and has since become Nagasaki's biggest winter draw, blending Chinese festival culture with the city's own history as Japan's old gateway to the world.

Beyond just wandering under the lanterns, there's a real cast of characters: an Emperor Parade with about 150 people in full Qing-dynasty court dress escorting palanquins through the streets, a Mazu Procession reenacting the old ritual for the goddess of safe sailing (a nod to Nagasaki's port history), and a 20-meter dragon snaking through the crowds every single night of the festival.

If you want a quieter moment, the Nagasaki Confucius Temple — the only authentic Chinese-style Confucian shrine in Japan — opens its grounds for the Lunar New Year, and it's a nice break from the crowds.