Adachi-ku Fireworks

Summer in Japan means cooled watermelon, Yukatas and summer festivals with gigantiv fireworks.

When I came to Japan for my year abroad, we arrived after the last natsumatsuri were held and then I flew back just two days before the first one in the next year. So I never had the chance to experience a summer festival and was very much looking forward to my first japanese firework.

The first one in our vicinity and also the first one we went to was the Adachi-ku Firework, which also held quite a romantic feeling, because it was held in the same spot my husband proposed to me more than seven years ago.

Unfortunately the day went not as planned. In the end we arrived at the station about half an hour before the firework was supposed to start and we had to practically run to the riverside. Not easy when you are surrounded by hundreds of people all heading in the same direction. Combine that with the knowledge that one usually has to get to the riverside around noon to get a spot, might explain why my mood got worse from minute to minute.

We were still on our way when the first fireworks lit up the evening sky and the riverside meadows were so packed that we had to walk quite a while to even be allowed to enter them. Of course every last bit of meadow was occupied with plastic sheets and ~~lucky bastards~~ people who had been there early. The only possibility seemed to be watching the fireworks standing, but then we spotted several empty spots right beside the river.

Taking our chances we made our way through the masses and were rewarded with a wide open space that barely anyone was sitting on. Why? Because it was sand rather than grass… Well, we didn’t mind and had the best possible view right under the fireworks. The fireworks in Japan are not significantly bigger than in Germany but also longer. We missed the first fifteen minutes but could still enjoy over one hour of fireworks, each bigger than the one before and it was fantastic.

Unfortunately my phone doesn’t seem to be the best when it comes to fireworks, so the pictures are not as good as I want them to be, but I hope there are still some you like.