Andrew + Japan = Awesome

Best thing about Japan so far? Fireworks. Despite the near unbearable heat that insists on coming back day after day, this time of year is when Japan has many festivals, all with fireworks displays that seem to get better and better as Summer moves on. This Wednesday I went to Fukuchiyama with Mayumi. Fukuchiyama is about an hour and a half north from here on the JR train line.

We left Sanda at around 4pm, and arrived in Fukuchiyama at around 5.30. We started following people who looked like they were heading for the festival. Right outside the station were people handing out fans (like at most festivals), but these were awesome McDonalds fans. We each took one.

Along with the fan came a sheet of vouchers. There was a voucher for the new McFlurry flavor they have here, so we found the local McDonalds and tried to use the voucher. Turns out they didnt have a McFlurry machine, but they did have a thickshake machine, so we got one of those instead. It was great in the heat.

Eventually we found the festival area, and started wandering down a street lined with stalls. It was similar to Sanda festival, there was lot’s of food, with games thrown in. The food included the usual suspects, Yakisoba, Karaage, Fried squid, Octopus balls and Okonomiyaki (all probably spelt horribly wrong). I finally got someone to explain to me how some of the festival games work.

There’s this one game, where children fish small bouncy balls out of a paddling pool. I couldn’t work it out, there didn’t appear to be any skill, and I couldn’t work out how they “won”. Turns out that the “net” they use to fish the balls out is made of thin paper. So you have to be very gentle with it. If you manage to get enough balls before your net breaks, you win a prize. The more balls you get, the better the prize. It all makes sense now.

Another food item that is welcome at festivals is Toffee Apples. But being Japan, they aren’t content to just have apples. They have a whole selection of fruit, most of which I’ve forgotten. But I do remember there was a pineapple. I had a Toffee Strawberry.

It was melting in the heat, and a drop fell on my shirt. It hasn’t stained too badly. But it tasted fantastic. Really, really good.

We wandered on further, and eventually came to the river bed where the main festival was. There were more food stalls, and loads of people sitting and waiting for the fireworks. We decided to get Okonomiyaki for dinner and found a place to sit down on some steps. The Okonomiyaki we got had Shrimp, Bacon and Egg in it (along with the usual cabbage).

 

The whole area was full of people, but nowhere near as crowded as PL. In terms of crowd it was somewhere between Sanda and PL. But where we were was nice and spacious.

After a while it got dark, and then the fireworks began. Unlike the other festivals, these fireworks came in “volleys”. The announcer would talk in Japanese about the next volley, pointing out interesting things, and telling us about the corporate sponsors of the show. Then there would be fireworks for five to ten minutes. Then another break to be told about the next volley. It was really cool, because it gave you a moment to relax between shots, and meant the fireworks were much more intense. We had a finale every ten minutes or so.

Where we were sitting was perfect for viewing the fireworks. There were three main launching areas right in front of us, with another one to our left. The fireworks were right over us, at times I had to hold my camera pointing straight up. And some of them were so big that they wouldn’t fit on my camera screen. The videos at the bottom should help give a sense of scale.

 

The fireworks went for an hour and a half (although that included the inter-volley breaks), and were probably the best I’ve seen since getting here. Some of the fireworks made shapes, so look out in the videos for a cat face, and the face of Doraemon (a popular Japanese character).

After the fireworks we had twenty minutes to get back to the station or we’d miss the last train, so we really had to move it. We made it though, and although we were very sweaty and tired, we eventually got back to Sanda. I had a great time at Fukuchiyama, and as I said, I think the fireworks were some of the best yet. Festival season in Japan is awesome.