I can't remember when this "tradition" started, but every winter Peace Boulevard in Hiroshima is lit up with an ever increasing number of illuminations that draws in the crowds. Most of the illuminations are representations of stuff like apples, animals, castles, stars, steam trains, and the devil only knows what else.
Last week, one of my part time gigs, a private language teaching school, organized a Christmas illumination "scavenger hunt" for the students. I'd never done a "scavenger hunt" before, and it sounded a bit ominous - would we have to hide things in the bushes for the students to find? Wouldn't that be a bit of a nuisance for the teachers, the students, and the crowds of illumination-seekers all getting in each other's way? I had visions of crowds of people tripping over our students as they grovelled among the roots of trees and bushes hunting for hidden gifts.
Thankfully, it wasn't like that at all. Instead, the students were divided into groups and each group had a checklist of illuminations to search for and photograph themselves in front of - so it was more like a glorified selfie-party among the lights than anything else.
The group I was assigned to took quite a literal approach to finding the listed items. For example, one thing we had to find among the illuminations was a "human" but we did not photograph ourselves in front of an arrangement of lights that suggested a wandering gnome with a staff because gnomes are mythical creatures and therefore not "humans." It turned out that the other groups had taken a much more imaginative and liberal approach to the scavenger hunt and claimed to have found all sorts of wonders among the lights that we had overlooked.
Anyway, here are a few pics of my group in front of our various finds:
Umm, I'm not sure what that one was supposed to be... a winged unicorn perhaps? I can't remember the "clue" that led to this photo...
This one was the star of the show. The clue the students were given was something like "something in the sky."
Find "something cylindrical" was the clue that led us to the train...
We found a "heart" on the carriage.
Here we found lots of "triangles," but can you find the teacher?
Okay, here he is, in front of his castle.
Oh yes, a castle is a "building" so we crossed that one off our list of things to find.
I think this photo was a desparate attempt to claim we'd found something or other on the other side of the road - our last chance to cross another item off the list before we all gathered to see which group had won.
Here we all are for the final group photo. Needless to say, our team did not win the scavenger hunt.
Afterwards, a bunch of us hot-footed it to Kemby's for some refreshment. I came armed with two chess sets and a chess clock, so several of us spent the rest of the evening playing chess with or without the clock and with or without time-handicaps, but that is another story.
I hope you enjoyed my "Christmas lights collection" for December 2025!
Cheers!