Mie: Weekend Getaway

My friend's twin sister lives in Mie Prefecture and often visits her during three-day weekends so I was incredibly lucky when I was able to tag along! :) I had been planning on traveling there for awhile, but never got around to doing it. We left Friday night and spent the weekend with her sister before leaving Monday afternoon. It took us about five hours each way, but it was also way cheaper and saved us quite a bit of money, so I had absolutely no complaints. My friend's sister lives in Toin, a small town about thirty minutes from Kuwana with many old, traditional houses and rice fields. It was a nice change from the busy city of Kobe and while we took it easy during our stay, our main goal was to go to Nabana no Sato, a popular garden that is famous for its winter illuminations. After seeing a picture of it on Pinterest, I wrote it down on my list of places to visit in Japan :D The entrance fee is a bit higher during their winter illumination-- it was about 2,100 yen, but included a 1,000 voucher that you could use at any of the restaurants or stores so I ended up using mine to buy omiyage for my teachers. 

Train station at Toin.

On a clear day, you can see Gozaisho Peak in the back :)

The entire place was lit up with thousands of solar-powered lights.

Definitely a couple/family event.

There was a spectacular light show after coming out of the tunnel and the lights and designs would change colors according to the music. 

Waterfall filling up the lake

And another tunnel with green and pink lights :) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!