I got a few more stories to wrap up for this year though...
In the states, there are few occasions to see huge displays of fireworks. Except for July 4th, New Years Eve and every night at Disneyland, fireworks are kind of a rare sight. That’s not the case in Japan. In Japan, there aren’t specific days but rather a season of fireworks that last almost an entire month. These fireworks festivals or “Hanabi Matsuri” in Japanese are held all over Japan and are huge events with shows lasting upwards of 2 hours.
The crowds.
Having some fun with telescoping effects.
Flower Light.
Something about the hot summer days and the festive nature of summer vacation motivates thousands of Japanese to flock out to rural parts of the Japanese countryside to munch on small skewered snacks and dress up in traditional clothing like kimonos, yukatas and getas.
What is it like to watch a 2 hour fireworks display?
Never seen a firework show last more than 30 minutes? Well, neither have I until I saw a Hanabi Matsuri but now I’ve seen multiple shows last hours. Is a 2 hour long show better than a short and sweet show? No, not necessarily. In fact, the 2 hour long displays of fireworks are simply too long and actually start to get boring despite the thousands of dollars it takes to put on the show. The difference is that instead of having a nice tempo of slow and fast parts with certain portions of the show growing and shrinking in intensity of fireworks perhaps put to music or at least with some sort of rhythmic order, it is just one monotonous string of fireworks, one after another with no real crescendo to build excitement and no grand finale. Longer does not mean better.
See! Jonathan's so bored he's pretending to fall asleep. His gf's still conscious though at least.
Yoko-chan is still paying attention.
But this was pretty cool I must say.
Not bad...
Self Made Fireworks Display
What I actually enjoyed more was simply gathering a bunch of friends, spending a few bucks at 7-11, buying packs of Hello Kitty themed fireworks and setting them off along the riverbank. This is made all the more cool by an add on in the pack of fireworks that changes point sources of light into little shimmering hello kitties. Like a pair of 3D glasses, the lens somehow transforms a small light in the dark into a prismatic hello kitty. Sometimes the simple things in life are all you need. For one of Baptiste’s many goodbye events, we just set off our own fireworks and I think it was a better time than watching a huge elaborate firework display.
Cool huh? Don't ask me how I did this.
Yay Baptiste is *22
Star Power
=D
Dressing Up
A guilty pleasure of mine is dressing up a bit for special occasions. I know that sounds a bit “unmanly” but personally I just like taking care of myself and it feels good to look a little different once in a while. And there’s no shame in looking good. But one of the highlights of the fireworks festivals was dressing up in full Japanese traditional clothing and feeling as if we’d finally made the full conversion to Japanese. If only for a little while, it felt good to wear a traditional yukata which is a light and thin summer kimono with getas, traditional wooden shoes that click and clack ostentatiously when you walk. The group (actually just the foreigners, not the Japanese haha) all wore our best outfits and had a good time attracting the attention of most Japanese on the train.
Nice! Group Photo
