Seasonal light displays – often locally called "illuminations – have become popular in cities and other locations around Japan during the winter, when the clear, cold air makes these installations especially bright and lovely.

These displays have been growing increasingly popular and seemingly ever more extensive and intricate from one year to the next. Some locales have made it an annual tradition to create spectacular illuminations that are breathtakingly dazzling and impressive, with visitors coming from all over Japan to enjoy them.

Nagoya has also gotten into the game, with many striking illuminations bringing brightness to the city during the long, cold nights.

There are places throughout the city where you can view and enjoy these illuminated displays, but the biggest concentration is in the center of the city, from the downtown area around Nagoya Station and stretching on to the environs of Sakae.

I started my exploration at Sasashima Live, which is located a few blocks south of Nagoya Station and reachable by the Aonami Line train. This place is also the venue for a European-style Christmas market, so if you go in December you can also enjoy tasty German-style food and beverages, as well as other treats. There are also daily stage performances by a range of popular entertainers.

One of the highlights of the Sasashima Xmas Lights 2019 area at Sasashima Canal Park was the giant "Tree of Light," featuring thousands of LEDs glowing in constantly changing colors. It was impressive enough during the day...

...but after nightfall, it was truly spectacular!

The high-rise shopping center across the street afforded great views of the illuminated market from its roof.

It also features a light display of its own, in the form of several trees adorned with glowing decorations.

After enjoying the lights at Sasashima, instead of taking the train back to Nagoya Station, I elected to walk. Right from the start, I encountered more illuminated displays along the road.

Although the light displays in Sasashima Canal Park were dismantled when the Christmas market ended, many others throughout the city remain in place until much later, often on into February. These include many of the ones in the streets around Nagoya Station, like this one depicting a scene from a traditional festival.

Even many of the trees along the roads at the station are decorated with lights.

Hirokoji-dori, one of the main roads running from the station to the downtown commercial district in the east, also features a number of light displays.

Not surprisingly, considering the season, a few of them took Christmas as their theme.

Others were more original in execution.

Here on Hirokoji-dori, too, lights adorned many of the trees alongside the road.

This display combined lights with pretty flowers.

The banks of the Horikawa canal near Nayabashi Bridge were illuminated, too.

Further along Hirokoji-dori, in Sakae, you can find more of these light installations.

Another of the downtown thoroughfares where you can enjoy this seasonal lighting is Otsu-dori. Many of the light installations on this street are blue.

When it rains, these lights make for scenery that is especially dreamlike and colorful.

These are the trees along Nishiki-dori, another big downtown street running parallel to Hirokoji-dori a block to the north.

In the park to the south of Sakae's TV Tower's was the Nagoya Christmas Market, another European-style facility with more shops and stalls selling Teutonic food, drink, and other seasonal items. I've written more about this market in another blog entry, which you can find here: Nagoya Christmas Market and Christmas Dining in Sakae

Like the one at Sasashima, this market also ended at Christmas, but it too boasted a number of light displays of its own to delight visitors and add not only light but also a festive ambience.

Though the market lights are gone until the Christmas season comes again, you can still enjoy the bright installations elsewhere in Nagoya. Even the Osu arcade has gotten into the spirit!