YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories - In the sub arctic woods
of Canada's Northwest Territories, a quiet crowd search the moonlit sky, a wave
of concern creeping into hushed voices. Time is running out.
Then a funnel of greenish light appears in the east, hanging
still at first, and then rippling like steam in a glass tube. On the opposite
horizon, a waving curtain of color spreads above the trees, drawing shouts of
glee from the crowd.
"It's so romantic!" a woman shrieks, clasping her partner's
hand. Others are busy adjusting their digital cameras.
The Northern Lights have made their appearance, the highlight
of the day for a group that has crossed an ocean and endured freezing
temperatures to seek them out.
More formally known as aurora borealis, the lights have made
the northern mining center of Yellowknife - population roughly 20,000 - a travel
hub for mostly Japanese tourists eager to take advantage of the town's nearly
ideal viewing conditions.
While Alaska and Scandinavia boast their own borealis viewing
industries, local operators claim the conditions outside Yellowknife - flat and
for much of the year very, very cold - are perfect.
As well, the city's proximity to the "aurora oval", a
magnetic band that circles the magnetic pole in the upper Northern Hemisphere,
means the lights can occur at nearly any point in the sky.
And so a cottage industry has risen to handle the estimated
6,000 tourists who annually pump millions of dollars into the local economy
during the prime winter viewing months.
While the territory boasts 11 official languages - English,
French, and nine native tongues - it's English and Japanese you'll find on menus
in the better hotels.
Air Canada, meanwhile, has introduced a direct flight from
its Asian travel hub of Vancouver, British Columbia, during winter months to
keep up with demand.
On a recent nighttime venture to a viewing spot about 30 km
(20 miles) outside of town, tourists are crammed into two school buses in heavy
parkas, snow pants and ski masks.
Following a short trek across a frozen lake, the group is
shepherded into a heated tent for a short presentation in Japanese about the
lights.
Maho, who did not give her surname, has made the trek from
Vancouver where she works at Starbucks as part of a work-abroad program. She
will spend three evenings out at the site, hoping that at least one will provide
ideal viewing conditions. Asked about the popularity of the lights in her native
Japan, she said: "We learn about them in school, so we come here."
Hideo Nagatani, manager of local operator Aurora Village,
says the appeal for the Japanese is simply a cultural love of nature's grandeur.
"It's like during the fall season, many Japanese flock to
Quebec and Ontario for the changing of colors on the leaves," he said. "Where
there is something very spectacular, they will travel around the world to really
see it."
Caused by the collision of solar-charged protons and
electrons with the earth's upper atmosphere, the borealis typically appears as
green and red curtains of light that dance across the sky.
Several cultures have their own folklore surrounding the
lights. An Algonquin Indian myth held the lights were the souls of ancestors
dancing around a fire.
The Japanese fascination with the lights also has its own bit of folklore:
that conceiving a child beneath the lights will bring good luck. -Reuters
