The Largest Hanabi Festival in Western Japan...

...conveniently took place in Kurume on August 5th, the first weekend after my arrival. Hanabi means fireworks, and it marked the end of the Water Festival that also took place that weekend. Having spent most of that weekend stuck inside, disinfecting my apato, I was really looking forward to leaving it behind for a few hours to witness what would be the most incredible display of fireworks I have ever seen.

My neighbors and I all piled into a taxi to get as close to the river as we could, then joined the masses walking toward the launching site/ Thousands of people filled the streets, which were lined with yakitori and takoyaki stalls, as well as vendors selling various glowing sticks, ninja swords etc. Perhaps about a third of the crowd was dressed in their yukata, or informal summer kimonos which was really neat to see. Once we got to the entrance of the riverside park, we went through a gate and down a flight of stairs to the seating area. There were uniformed men directing traffic, but the strict orderliness of the whole event wasn't completely apparent until the end, when the crowd patiently waited with no pushing to go back up the same narrow staircase.

Lots and lots of people came out to watch, and with good reason. There were eleven sets of fireworks, and each set was better than the best finale I have ever seen (maybe being so close to them helped--the fireworks were set off right across the river which was probably only about 300 yds wide).

The sky looked something like this for the next hour and a half. My rear end got a bit numb from sitting on the pavement, and my neck was sore from leaning back to see all of the fireworks, but it was well worth the price of admission, which was FREE!

After the reported 10,000 fire works had been set off, it was time to join the masses headed up the narrow staircases, but as I mentioned before, this was unbelievably orderly thing in the world. We followed the crowd back through neighborhoods to the train station which was overwhelmed with people trying to get home. We continued to walk towards home, stopping at one of the many, many, glowing vending machines along the way for some liquid refreshment. Pretty much every day, I try a new drink, to make sure I get to experience every kind before picking a favorite and settling into a rut...and this particular night I was very keen to try a bottle of "Energy Squash," but alas, other people had gotten to the last of the stock before me. I have been on the lookout for it ever since, but have not seen it anywhere. :-(