Night Park OARAI

For three evenings at the turn of October and November, the sand at Oarai Sun Beach in Ibaraki Prefecture is given over to light. Installations are set up along the shore, food is sold from vans, and the whole thing runs from mid-afternoon into the night, with the lights coming on as the sun goes down.

The light on the beach

Four pieces are set out on the sand, each using something the beach already has. The new one this year works with the wind. Mirror tape is hung from wires strung across the beach volleyball courts, and the sea breeze, which cannot be seen, turns into a moving field of reflected light that visitors walk through.

Along the water, a line of blue light is thrown onto the breaking waves, so that the surf is drawn as a single moving stroke. Inland from it stands a structure built of scaffolding, hung with moons and planets that swing in the wind and change the light inside it; visitors can go in as well as look at it from outside. The fourth is a hill of sand that begins to glow once the light has gone.

Eating and sitting

Twenty or more food vans are expected, open from three in the afternoon until close, selling local food and the sort of thing that draws a queue.

Seating is spread across the sand: lit chairs and tables in one area, with a swing to be photographed on, and a large stretch tent lounge with a bar, lanterns and music. Long tables in the lounge and glamping tents pitched on the sand are bookable and charged for. A tuk-tuk runs tours between the installations, which is also charged.

Workshops run through the evening, among them one where visitors make a glowing planet of their own, which is then hung in the scaffolding piece. Pets are catered for.