Christmas lights return to Omotesando after 11 years

who's paying for that? are they offsetting the electricity bill eco Japan? (sarcasm off!)

Typically of those snooty retailers to complain. It's not as if hordes of people would have been trying to get into Cartier, Chanel and all those other fancy stores.

GREAT! I love Christmas lights.

Excellent! Take a romantic walk down the boulevard, drop into Hermes to buy a scarf, dinner at Saizeriya, and then a hotel!

Most likely LED lights, which use about 10 watts for a string of 100. The older style would use 1000 watts for a string of 100.

So, you could decorate two two meter trees (well) for the same energy usage as one standard light bulb. Pretty great really, you'll see cities using a lot more of these lights in the years to come. The only drawback is many LED light strands are poorly made... they corrode and don't work after a few years; hopefully newer ones will prove to be better.

DeepAir65 at 10:06 AM JST - 1st December who's paying for that?

630,000 LED's only consume about 60,500w or 60.5kw, so using .20 yen/kWh it would be 12.1 yen/hour, and if they are on for 12hrs a day, it would be roughly 144 yen/day, so for the month of December, it should be about 4,320 yen to run those lights. (if my sources and math were correct, probably not now that I think about it, lol)

mike - you're right.. For once, I myself enjoy the Christmas lights (although I'm not a Christian myself), without having to think about the CO2 emmited in the process.

Anyway, my above point is that they are really cheap to run. Besides, that, it's WORTH every penney because it looks beautiful!!

impressive - still think it is a waste of time and effort in a non-Christian (or Christian even) country - I know, bah humbug!

Wow, I was there 11 years ago with my girlfriend! I didn't know it hasn't been lit up for all those years. I came permanently in Japan 10 years ago - my be we should go with now my wife to share some memories ;)

DeepAir65 at 11:18 AM JST - 1st December still think it is a waste of time and effort in a non-Christian (or Christian even) country - I know, bah humbug!

WHY!?! This doesn't make sense to me. It has become a tradition for many cultures and in many cases, has nothing to do with religion (thankfully). It's just evolved into a seasonal type thing and I really don't see any reason not to enjoy it.

11 years, you got the number wrong my friend it is about 8 years not 11.

Societymike:

60 kW times 20Yen/kWh (not 0.2 Yen/kWh) gives 1200 Yen/hour.

Then 14400 Yen for half a day and so on. Just multiply your numbers by 100.

Still reasonable.

Cheers.

CO2 was produced to manufacture the lights and package them and transport them and install them and take them down...I guess this all doesn't count...right?

The article doesn;t mention it, but another [good] reason to shut the lights down was the awful traffic jams caused by cars queuing on Route 246 and in Harajuku to drive down Omote Sando. Absolutely locked up, I can recall trying to pass through and not knowing what the cause was.

Hundreds of couples in cars "cruising".

Just think of the CO2 output from all that!!

That is something I hope doesn't return.

Hey "Global Warming" has been proven to be false, so don't worry about the environment and you can all start buying SUVs again.

Global Warming" has been proven to be false

lol yeah look at arctic and antarctic today. it's getting cooler now a day!

Looks very nice...I like to see people enjoying Christmas, for whatever their reason...Lights would look real cool in the snow! BTW cause for the Arctic ice melt has been determined to be too many ice breaking research vessels...go figure...

OMG, this is about Christmas lights, people!!! Nothing much to whine about, I'd say. But no....someone here manages it to link this to an ice breaking vessel so at least a negative spin can be given to it. Classic!!!

God almighty! What was my life with out the Christmas lights down in Ometasando for the last 11 years!!! Hallelujah! Time to PARTY!

Holiday goodwill: priceless

Anybody worried about C02 and global warming/climate change should lead by example and shut their mouths and stop breathing.

Think of all the C02 being released with all that whining going on! Heavens!

Perhaps we should just call them "solstice lights" or "dark of winter lights" and forget the almost completely unconnected religion bit.

I used to work in the area and really hated this season. It would be so crowded you couldn't get out the door or move down the sidewalk to try to work your way home. Sure was beautiful but 5 days a week for weeks on end was a bit much to take. Hopefully now there are enough other places in the city that do the big light up that it won't return to quite that level.

so beautiful, would love to see it

As Christmas draws closer and more people flock to Omotesando to look at the lights, let's close the street to allow people to enjoy them in comfort. Solves everyone's problems. Good for business.... *o not really seeing most of those stores close at 7pm 9 at the latest.

Very pretty!

Sarge, in spades!

Lostrune 2, I agree!

I just call them seasonal lights.

Yay! the lights are back! hopefully no more complaints this time..:)

You don't need to go totally overboard to create a nice mood. Lights are good! Just got some LED lights for our apartment. Looks really cool.

Anybody worried about C02 and global warming/climate change should lead by example and shut their mouths and stop breathing.

Agreed.

More on topic, I like Christmas lights. Always seems to make the place sparkle. Brings a warm feeling, despite the cold.

Zelkova trees...interesting