3.4 Other Night Views and Electronic Art#

3.4.1 Izumo: KSE Corporation#

Izumo is a tranquil little town. Our hotel was located right next to the train station, but aside from a few izakaya (pubs), the surrounding area had very few shops. Although there was little entertainment to be found after dinner, for the sake of our health, we decided to head out for a walk anyway.

On our first night (December 19th), passing by the station, I noticed a building labeled “KSE Corporation” draped with some Christmas lights. If I recall correctly, this is a software development (IT) company that partners with numerous major organizations. However, judging by the scale of the lights that evening, it seemed like mere festive embellishment—nothing particularly eye-catching.

But on the second night (December 20th), passing the same spot after dinner, the atmosphere was drastically different. A digital countdown clock had suddenly appeared on the building’s exterior, and a crowd of expectant onlookers had gathered on the roadside. My intuition told me, “There is something to see here.”

We stopped for a moment. As the countdown hit zero, music suddenly erupted. The entire façade of the building instantly transformed into a massive screen of light and shadow, with points of light dancing and shifting in time with the melody. I never imagined that in such a quaint, rustic town, hidden away was an electronic art performance of such scale and technical sophistication.

This time, sticking to my principle of “living in the moment,” I didn’t raise my camera to record. I simply stood quietly, immersing myself in this unexpected technological surprise.

3.4.2 Kobe Port#

On the final night of our trip (December 23rd), after concluding our visit to Himeji in the late afternoon (details to follow) and returning to Kobe, we headed straight to the harbor to enjoy the night view.

We originally caught the 6:00 PM drone show, but unfortunately, we had chosen the wrong vantage point and could only see the “side profile” of the formations, which was a bit regrettable. Learning there was another show at 8:00 PM, we planned to grab dinner first and return for a better look.

However, after entering the Kobe Port Tower and checking the menus of its two restaurants, we found them to be heavily meat-focused, offering no suitable vegetarian options. To make matters worse, it began to drizzle—“it never rains but it pours,” as the saying goes.

Since the weather wasn’t cooperating, we decided to leave it to fate. We abandoned the idea of waiting for the second show and headed back to the area near our hotel to search for dinner at a more leisurely pace.

3.4.3 Tokuyama#

As mentioned previously, we visited the industrial hub of Tokuyama on December 17th. The local illumination event (“Shunan Winter Tree Festival”) is quite famous, with light installations stretching across several streets, and we even encountered local tour groups visiting.

To be fair, the sheer scale and uniformity were quite impressive upon first glance. However, perhaps due to a lack of variation in the design, the novelty gradually wore off after walking a few blocks, and it ceased to feel particularly special.