Festivals

This is something the Japanese really know how to do well. Everyone loves a festival and the Japanese are no exception. Every summer they hold hundreds of festivals all over the country. You can pretty much guarantee a festival every weekend if you know where to go. Every City has one, every town and every area. Some are famous, some are not. The large festivals have huge fireworks displays which are always a lot of fun. The largest one in the Kansai Area is the PL fireworks. They let off 120,000 fireworks every event...that's 1714 fireworks every MINUTE of the event! I used to go every year, but it got harder with the kids and Shibby working all the time...but it is sooo worth looking at. Here is the last 8 minutes on video from 2006...watch to the end Finale...it is sooo incredible! The whole sky turns red and white. I was so moved when I saw it for the first time live. Some parts get a little hard to see due to the smoke..but it gets really good near the end and I would love for you to see what we get to see every year!
Click here: PL Fireworks (Thanks to whoever made that video......!)
Oh, I just watched it again...it is so good!
Back to festivals...our local festival was last week, they hold it at the school every year and it is always a lot of fun, but the one we really don't want to miss is our city festival, the Kinokawa Festival. They have a fireworks display too, but no-where near as good as PL, but still impressive for our little 'ol town! We can see them from our balcony if you want to come and sip some wine with us. It is held on the 15th of August every year. When the kids were small we used to stay home and have a BBQ on our veranda and watch them from there, but now they are bigger they want to go where the 'action' is..! There is nothing like lying on a grassed hill right underneath these huge fireworks displays with a beer and cheap crappy hot dog! Bliss! Under the huge fireworks displays they usually have endless stalls that sell all kinds of Japanese food and games for the kids. Goldfish fishing, ball fishing, balloon fishing, throwing hoops etc etc. There is often the 'Bon Dance', which is a religious dance they have to send off their ancestors. They all dance around in a circle, and it looks a little like the hokey tokey to Japanese music....and looks just as fun. But the main reason for the festivals is to get all the people together. This is one night that all the locals come out and have fun together. The young girls dress up in Yukata and look so pretty! But there are always so many people....everywhere...people, people, people.....it is really tiring, but energizing at the same time. So, fireworks or not, festivals are a lot of fun and a great way to enjoy the cool summer night air. If you are in Japan between July to the end of October I highly recommend you experience this pagan event at least once! You will see a completely different side of Japan.