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Nabana No Seto

Last weekend I decided to take a solo adventure.  I had been hearing about the famous illuminations around Japan and decided to see if I could find one to check out.  The closest one to Nagoya is Nabana No Seto, located in Kuwana City in the neighboring prefecture of Mei.  To get there from Nagakute I had to take the subway to Nagoya Station, then the Japanese Railway to Nagashima then a bus from there to the illumination.  It was a simple task, but given the language barrier it was a little challenging.  

 I made it to Nagoya Station on my own, asked someone to help me figure out how much my ticket was as the stop I needed to get to was only written in Japanese, then made it to a platform.  As I was trying to make sense of the time table a kind Japanese man came up to me and asked where I was trying to get to.  I told him Nagashima and pointed to it on the map.  He helped me find the correct platform and told me what time the train would come.  Through his broken English I felt the kindest of hearts.  The people here are truly beautiful.
I made it to the Nagashima station and found the bus that took me to the illumination.  There were 5.8 million LED lights that covered a beautiful garden.  Surprisingly, despite the bitter cold temperatures, there were still flowers abloom.  I made my way around the incredibly crowded exhibit and then bought myself a yummy sui-to poteto with my Nabana voucher.  Sweet potatoes are in season right now in Japan and you can find baked sweet potatoes all over.  The one I ate at the illumination was cooked in a giant vat.  You eat the sweet potato straight from the vat, skin and all.  

 I made it back to Nagoya Station in time to do some last minute Christmas shopping.  For my first adventure on my own it was a complete success.  I feel confident venturing out on the Japanese trains on my own.  Now all I need to do is find another destination and start out on my next journey! 


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