Yokohama Fireworks 横浜花火

-
-

-

-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

On August 1st the Kanagawa Newspaper sponsored a fireworks festival near Minato Mirai. I finished my summer course the day before, complete with a three-hour final and a 10 minute presentation on the history of Japanese museums (in Japanese), so fireworks were a wonderful reward. Hanabi Taikai (fireworks festivals) are serious business in Japan; for this particular festival tens of thousands of people turned out to watch over 8,000 fireworks go off over an hour and fifteen minute period. On the same night in the Tokyo area there were four or five other festivals, most of which had more fireworks. To say the least, these displays make the average American Independence Day celebration seem like an amateur backyard party. Above is the crowd pouring out of Sakuragicho Station about an hour and a half before the fireworks started, you can spot some of the many people dressed in yukata.

-

-
-
-

-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

As we walked out to the waterfront we stopped to grab some take-out, luckily all of the shops in the area were prepared for the mass of people and had amazingly efficient staffing, queues, and ordering systems in place. It took us less than 10 minutes to get fast-food take out, and we were in a line with easily over 100 other people. Amazing... The convenience stores all had lines just to enter them, so the staff were selling popular items like tea, water and beer outside the shops. We wandered around near the waterfront trying to find a small spot to sit amongst the masses of people with their plastic tarps taped to the pavement, but had no luck. Just as we were getting frustrated, we stopped to talk about where to go next near a good viewing spot. As we stood and talked an older gentleman came up to us and offered us a place on his tarp, so sweet!

-

-
-
-
-

-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Some of the fantastic fireworks....

-

-
-
-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

... and some more...

-

-
-
-
-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

... and my favorite fireworks, those in recognizable forms. I couldn't get a photo of the Hello Kitty or Doraimon fireworks, but this smiley face is pretty awesome too.

-