This year's Sendai Pageant of Starlight has already begun! Beginning on 12 December, the zelkova trees lined up along Jozenji-dori and other nearby streets have been covered with almost 600,000 lights, creating a gorgeous display every night from 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The illumination will continue until 31 December, so don't miss it!

This picture was taken on the first night of the Pageant of Starlight. Jozenji-dori was overflowing with holiday spirit!

This year the city has set up a special temporary ice skating rink, the Sendai Winter Park, located in the main square of Kotodai Park. The picture below is of some workers performing maintenance on the rink. The rink will be open for free (skate rental JPY 500) until 25 December! Sendai is actually known as the birthplace of figure skating in Japan after producing some famous skaters like Shizuka Arakawa, gold medalist at the Turin Olympics!

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