“Would you like to light up the only lantern in the world?” In order to solicit support for illuminating the Ooka River Promenade (Yokohama City), which is known as a famous spot for cherry blossoms in Kanagawa, the “Minami Cherry Blossom Festival Executive Committee” (secretariat, within the Regional Promotion Division, Minami-ku, Yokohama City) has put together lanterns. We are seeking sponsorship for the. You can write any text you want on the lanterns, and Yokohama City’s Minami-ku Regional Development Division says, “We hope people will use them as a means to send marriage proposals and congratulatory messages.”

Ookagawa Promenade, a 5km promenade along the river between Minami and Naka wards of the city, usually sees about 700 cherry blossoms bloom in spring, and is crowded with many cherry blossom viewing visitors.

Of this, the approximately 1.7 km stretch from Kannon Bridge to Shimizu Bridge is illuminated from late March to early April to make the night cherry blossoms even more enjoyable. The cost was covered by donations from residents.

However, in recent years, sponsorship money has been on the decline, and the department and others are looking for new financial sources to continue the illuminations. Although we conducted crowdfunding last year, it did not spread as expected and we did not reach our target amount.

Therefore, last year the “bonbori sponsorship” was limited to residents of Minami Ward, but this year they have decided to invite applications from outside the ward as well.

The lanterns are displayed along the river and are six-sided. You can write your desired characters on two of the sides (up to 15 characters on each side), and the sponsorship fee is 5,000 yen per light.

The goal is about 1000 lights. The number of people writing congratulatory messages for graduating to higher education has increased, and the department is asking for their cooperation so that we can enjoy the cherry blossoms illuminated at night for many years to come.

The illumination period will be from March 21st to April 6th next year, and the application deadline is February 7th. For inquiries, please contact the Minami Cherry Blossom Festival Executive Committee Secretariat (045-341-1237). (Kentaro Hashimoto)