Matsushima Light Up

I'm a million years behind on my blog, autumn is long past, John and I have now left Japan (sob, sob) and are currently holidaying in Korea before heading home next week, but I still wanted to share these lovely photos. For pretty much the whole time the leaves look pretty, Matsushima Bay holds a light up event. Every evening, a few of the islands, and all the trees inside the Entsu-in Temple are lit up. 

We managed to accidentally time it to pretty much the perfect day to go. By this point, all the leaves near our house were already down, but Matsushima is fairly sheltered, and the leaves were pretty much at their peak. The result was truly beautiful, even on the drizzly and very very cold night we went. Despite the rain, it was very busy and a lot of patience was required to get people free photos from the best spots, but we still really enjoyed ourselves. Obviously it's too late to go this year, but I'd definitely recommend it if you're in the area next year (assuming they hold it again, but it seems to be an annual thing). 

I wasn't a fan of the green islands. They look like somewhere the Wicked Witch from a fairytale might live. Too scary! 

But this was the view that greeted you as you went into Entsu-in Temple. Reds and yellows and oranges and greens everywhere! 

More scary witch stuff behind the main temple building...

...but the lanterns were lovely, especially when falling leaves got caught in them.

Due to a combination of different trees and different lighting, there were so many different colours and shades throughout the garden.

Trees reflected perfectly in the pond

Looking at those leaves makes me feel like it's autumn!