Winter Wonderland - Nabana no Sato

Day 4 (Fri, 21 December 2018)

On the cards today was Nabana no Sato, a flower garden, to see the winter illumination. From my research, it sounded something like Gardens by the Bay, but specially lit up for winter. Nabana no Sato is part of Nagashima Resort, a long strip of land surrounded by rivers and the sea, and which also includes a theme park, onsen and Mitsui Outlet Park.

But first, lunch! We went to Tetsuemon at Nagoya station to try yet another Nagoya speciality - Cochin chicken. Most people would be familiar with oyakudon, which is a rice bowl with chicken pieces, topped with egg. Interestingly, "oyakudon" means parent and child rice bowl, giving new meaning to the puzzle: which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Tetsuemon serves all types of chicken dishes. We ordered two oyakudon with the Cochin chicken which also came with fried chicken wings, one regular oyakudon (just to see what the difference was) and one karaage (fried chicken). All the sets came with a chicken meatball soup.

This was the oyakudon.

Our verdict? Honestly, our Philistine palates couldn't make out the difference between the Cochin and regular chicken. What wowed me was not the chicken but the egg. It's not overly runny but still slightly wobbly. A layer of sunny, creamy goodness. Andre loved the karaage, especially the tartar sauce that accompanied it.

To get to Nabana no Sato, you need to first get to Nagashima onsen. Directions online were quite elusive and the official sites contained mostly Japanese instructions. As far as we know, there are two ways to get to Nagashima onsen - either via a straight bus from Meitetsu Bus Station or via train to Kuwana station, and then a bus ride to the onsen. We chose the latter because Kenneth and Lesley-Anne are not keen on long bus rides.

JR line from Nagoya station to Kuwana station

The Kuwana bus station is small and local, and it wasn't very clear where we were supposed to go, until we asked the station master. We finally sorted it out and got on the right bus to Nagashima Onsen. Given the complexity of the train-bus journey, I highly recommend you take the straight bus route instead. We opted to take the bus back (there's a direct one from Nabana no Sato all the way to Nagoya station) and it's much easier.

Nabana no Sato is known for their winter night illumination. I'd seen pictures online and it has great reviews. When we entered the garden, it was still daylight and one of the first scenes that greeted us was this gorgeous autumn foliage.

There's also a mirror lake which doubled the magic of the scene.

There's a revolving platform which you can ride to have a bird's eye view of the entire gardens. It looked a little like an odd spaceship. You can't see it in the pic but there's a Mount Fuji structure on top of it!

The light up was at 5pm, since sunset in winter is 4.45pm. We followed a route which led us to one of the main attractions - a fully lit 100-metre long tunnel, literally called "Brilliant Walk". It's hard to describe and photographs don't do it justice. Imagine being surrounded by twinkling fairy lights all about you, with gentle Christmas music serenading you as you stroll along in fresh, brisk air.

Greeting us at the end of the walk was an open field and a large screen where a light shown was being screened.

Then came another lit tunnel, this one in lavender. It was simply surreal.

Entry to Nabana no Sato is Y2,300 each, which includes a Y1,000 coupon that can be used for souvenirs or meals. We thought we would have to settle for an overpriced and tasteless dinner, typical of theme parks, until we came across a Japanese restaurant partially hidden within the gardens. Despite its posh exterior, its meals were reasonably priced - about Y2,000 for each set. We had sashimi, clams, eel...and they were all fantastic. We were four very happy campers.

When we had finished dinner, it was completely dark outside. Then the real magic happened. Entire rows of trees along the bank were illuminated so their fiery shades blazed against the backdrop of a black night, with perfect reflections in the still waters. It was an ethereal sight. I could have sat and stared at it all night. Again, photos don't do it justice.

The entire park was lit up, with changing colours dancing to music.

I've seen quite a few Christmas light-ups in my time, but this one beats them all. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see in Nagoya, but this plus the visit to Shirakawa-go alone made the trip worthwhile.