Summer Fireworks in Okazaki
Creative day 04/31: blog post
Summer is the season of fireworks in Japan, and I have spent the past several weeks explaining to my students that fireworks here are incredibly different from the fireworks we do in the US. For one thing, we really only have them twice a year: on July 4th and New Year's. But in Japan, fireworks are a legitimate spectacle, going off for hours at a time, on different days in many cities all over the country, all through the summer! Not only are they bigger and bolder than the fireworks I've seen back home, but the fireworks are often set off to look like characters or other shapes. Plus, the festivals are a culinary adventure, with food stalls and other treats on offer in the neighborhood.
I read online that Okazaki's firework festival was one of the biggest and most famous in our area, so a group of us forked over the train fare to make it out to this new city, right near Okazaki castle. We saw plenty of women and men in beautiful lightweight yukata, and we even got rained on by some of the firework ash. Some of our troupe found this distasteful, so they turned back, but the rest of us forged ahead and checked out the crowds. We wandered around the area, where people were sitting in the streets and being illuminated by the constant crackle of fireworks from all sides.
My little pack and I moseyed through the streets after the massive finale and found crepes, yakisoba, meat skewers and corndogs (!?) on a stick, all for pretty cheap. We took a break from walking and enjoyed our snacks next to the friendly group of vendors. We wanted to ride out the waves of pedestrian traffic that were converging on the train station, so we explored some more and found another stall selling beer and shaved ice. The stall owners were enjoying their evening, and their drunken English was entertaining, to say the least! While we loitered there, a man came up with a tiny Pomeranian that looked just like Boo the dog. My friend S was beside herself with glee, and none of us could help ourselves from asking to hold the dog and take a picture with him.
After the dog and his owner left, we were just hanging out, and one of the friendly stall-owners came out from behind the stall to offer me a free soda-flavored shaved ice. I was surprised, because I had hemmed and hawed earlier over their not having mango flavor. The blue soda flavor was a new experience; I marveled at what "soda flavor" must mean in Japan! I'm still not sure of the answer.
We had a great night and didn't even have to worry about packed trains on the way back, because we had avoided all the hustle and bustle! And seen Boo's doppelganger to boot!
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| Front-row seats: from the street! |
Summer is the season of fireworks in Japan, and I have spent the past several weeks explaining to my students that fireworks here are incredibly different from the fireworks we do in the US. For one thing, we really only have them twice a year: on July 4th and New Year's. But in Japan, fireworks are a legitimate spectacle, going off for hours at a time, on different days in many cities all over the country, all through the summer! Not only are they bigger and bolder than the fireworks I've seen back home, but the fireworks are often set off to look like characters or other shapes. Plus, the festivals are a culinary adventure, with food stalls and other treats on offer in the neighborhood.I read online that Okazaki's firework festival was one of the biggest and most famous in our area, so a group of us forked over the train fare to make it out to this new city, right near Okazaki castle. We saw plenty of women and men in beautiful lightweight yukata, and we even got rained on by some of the firework ash. Some of our troupe found this distasteful, so they turned back, but the rest of us forged ahead and checked out the crowds. We wandered around the area, where people were sitting in the streets and being illuminated by the constant crackle of fireworks from all sides.
My little pack and I moseyed through the streets after the massive finale and found crepes, yakisoba, meat skewers and corndogs (!?) on a stick, all for pretty cheap. We took a break from walking and enjoyed our snacks next to the friendly group of vendors. We wanted to ride out the waves of pedestrian traffic that were converging on the train station, so we explored some more and found another stall selling beer and shaved ice. The stall owners were enjoying their evening, and their drunken English was entertaining, to say the least! While we loitered there, a man came up with a tiny Pomeranian that looked just like Boo the dog. My friend S was beside herself with glee, and none of us could help ourselves from asking to hold the dog and take a picture with him.After the dog and his owner left, we were just hanging out, and one of the friendly stall-owners came out from behind the stall to offer me a free soda-flavored shaved ice. I was surprised, because I had hemmed and hawed earlier over their not having mango flavor. The blue soda flavor was a new experience; I marveled at what "soda flavor" must mean in Japan! I'm still not sure of the answer.
We had a great night and didn't even have to worry about packed trains on the way back, because we had avoided all the hustle and bustle! And seen Boo's doppelganger to boot!
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| I've held more animals in the past month than the previous six months combined... |
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