This city halfway around the world has a giant Christmas tree from Nova Scotia

Floating on a barge at the fore of a seaside city halfway around the world, a Nova Scotia balsam fir casts a glow 50,000 lights strong that people from all over Japan come to see.

Every year for about two decades, a giant Christmas tree has travelled from Halifax to Hakodate.

The holiday tradition is little-known here but highly celebrated in the city 10,000 kilometres away.

Twin cities half a world apart

Hakodate, located on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido,boasts stunning mountain vistas and bay views.

It is also home tohot springs where monkeys like to bathe. You can find daily radiation reports for the city online after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

But Hakodate also bears similarities to Halifax it has a busy port, a star-shaped citadel and northerly climate.

In fact the two are twin cities, a designation more than 30 years old.

The Christmas Fantasy festival

From that bond was born thetradition of gifting a massive balsam fir to Hakodate for its annual Christmas Fantasy festival.

Thomas Trappenberg, president of the Halifax-HakodateFriendship Association,hasseen first-hand how big a deal thetree is during that holiday event.

The tree stands tall on its floating barge, overlooking the city in front of a row of red brick warehouses that line the waterfront.

"It's really the centrepiece of the whole festival," Trappenberg said.

Five years ago,Trappenberg attended aceremony with his family andgot to flip the switch for the lights on Christmas Day.

He said the tree means a lot tothe town.

"They're very proud that they have this festival which is so well-known in Japan now," he said.

Big balsam fir, big voyage

This year's Christmas tree was a 13-metre balsam fir from New Germany, N.S.

"It was tough to get in a container," said John Simmons, Halifax's urban forester whomanagedthe tree from its choosing to its shipment to Japan.

This year's tree left Nova Scotia on Sept.28 for its voyage to Japan, which takes over a month.

From truck to train to ship

Simmons saidthe tree was trucked to Montreal, travelled to Vancouver by train, then shipped across the ocean to Hakodate in order to arrive well in advance of the Christmas Fantasy festival's opening ceremony Dec.1.

Halifax pays for the tree which usuallycosts about $3,500 and its truck ride to Montreal. The city of Hakodatepicksup the tab for the tree's journey from Quebec to Japan.

As for why the annual tradition is not better known to Nova Scotians, Simmons said Halifax could probably do a better job of tooting its own horn.