New Years at Zojoji

This is a short video I put together about my time at Zojoji Temple on New Years. A friend and I had previously been searching around online for quite a while trying to find an event to attend for New Years. This being Tokyo, there were plenty of options, the difficult part was choosing. Ultimately I took my friends recommendation and we decided to attend the event at Zojoji Temple were participants were to release 3000 balloons into the air at the strike of midnight.

I had never been to this particular temple before, and I was completely shocked by the number of people present when I arrived. All 3000 balloons had already been given out to those eager to release them, but I wasn’t very disappointed because I would get to the the show either way. The temple had a particularly fantastic atmosphere that cold night, with Tokyo Tower brightly illuminated, a full moon in the sky, and a large bon fire to keep warm.

Anticipation mounted as the time grew closer and everybody counted down the last 10 seconds. Everybody let go of their balloon and the lights came on, creating a very surreal scene as they drifted higher and higher. I don’t think I could have picked a better place to spend the new year, and I may just return to Zojoji this year if I decide to stay in Japan.