Kobe Illuminage

Kobe Illuminage is a winter illumination at Kobe Fruit Flower Park Ozo, a michi-no-eki, or roadside station, with gardens in the hills of Kita Ward, Kobe. It was first held in 2009. The organizer counts about 150,000 visitors a year and describes it as one of the largest illuminations in Japan.

Around the grounds

The lights fill the gardens of the park, and several pieces return each winter. The Love Tunnel is a heart-shaped tunnel of pink light about 30 metres long. The Ice Palace is lit in blue and white, the Arabian Palace takes its look from the Thousand and One Nights, and the Rainbow Maze is a maze walled in coloured light.

Dog Light Up Park is an area for visitors with dogs, with dog-shaped lights and spots for photos of dogs with their owners. Dogs are admitted on a ticket of their own.

Shows

In the Starlight Bubble Show, soap bubbles catch the light as they drift over the grounds. The Illuminated Monkey Show, held every evening, sets a monkey performance from the Japanese tradition among the lights. Food trucks sell food and drink.

The 2026 edition: Starlight Dream

The 2026 edition marks 17 years since the first and takes the theme Starlight Dream, with the grounds dressed as a night of stars. Two pieces are new this year. The Butterfly Swing is a swing about 4 metres tall, built as a glowing butterfly whose wings beat as it swings. Rainbow Animals is a group of about twenty animals in rainbow-coloured light, among them a lion, a giraffe, an elephant and a peacock.

On New Year's Eve the park holds a separate countdown event, which needs its own ticket.