Paper lantern festival kicked off in northern Japan

The Tanabata Edoro festival began on Tuesday in Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. About 170 lanterns with drawings in a variety of styles were displayed along the city’s shopping streets. The streetlights were turned off to maximize the lanterns’ illuminated beauty.

The festival is said to date back around 300 years, when a daughter of a court noble from Kyoto who married into a local family wrote her nostalgic feelings for her home on paper strips and hung them on bamboo. The festival ends on Thursday.