This summer, the weekend of July 27th & 28th proved to be rather EXPLOSIVE! *Judging by the title of this post, you’ll have to forgive me for that extremely corny pun, but I simply could not help myself.*
To me, summer time in Japan is synonymous with a number of key elements, some of which are unique to Japan, but all of which feature quite prominently throughout the period. The ones that immediately come to my mind can be divided into two distinct categories of vastly differing degrees of fondness (or lack thereof).
The bad: the unbearable heat, the oppressive humidity, the annoyingly loud cicadas (セミ – semi), the creepy centipedes (ムカデ – mukade), the swarms of mosquitoes, and did I already mention the terrible humidity?
The good: vacation time, shaved ice (かき氷- kakigori), summer festivals, obon, the food stands (屋台 – yatai), beer gardens, seasonal fruits such as watermelons, and of course, elaborate fireworks displays.
To me, this poster is an excellent representation of what summers in Japan are all about: festivals, fireworks, beer, yukata, heat, vacation time, fun, etc.
If you didn’t already know this, then let me be the first to tell you that Japan takes its fireworks displays very seriously. Very seriously indeed! Coming from South Africa, I had previously never seen fireworks displays presented on the grand scale in which they are often carried out here in Japan. Having said that, a number of my American friends tend to disagree with me or are of the opinion that their 4th of July fireworks celebrations are better (or at least on par with Japan’s). Either way, no matter where you’re from, I think it’s safe to say that Japan does fireworks pretty darn well!
This summer, Marc and I were lucky enough to watch 3 fireworks displays. The two best ones were on the same weekend in 2 different cities in the Tokai area (東海- consists of Gifu, Aichi & Shizuoka prefectures) .
Gifu City, Gifu Ken:
A view of the sprawling city of Gifu from the city tower.
On Saturday, July 27th. The Chunichi Newspaper hosted the “All-Japan Fireworks Festival” along the Nagara River. In fact, every year, Gifu city hosts 2 large-scale fireworks displays along the Nagara river over 2 consecutive Saturdays. The one sponsored by the Chunichi Newspaper is always held on the last Saturday of July, while “The Nagara River National Display” is held one week later on the first Saturday of August. Along with a group of our friends, Marc and I made the 1 hour 15 minute train ride from Toyota to Gifu city to watch the 1st of the 2 fireworks displays. Both of the fireworks displays held in Gifu City are competitive and are considered to be among the largest of all the shows held in Japan. The fireworks are actually launched from the bed of the Nagara river, thus making the river bed itself the best seat in the house.
Large numbers of people, often wearing traditional yukata (summer kimono) set up picnics all along the banks of the river to watch the display. Seeing a great opportunity to make some money from the thousands of people that flock to the Nagara river
Our band of merry troops picnicking on the banks of the Nagara river
each year, many businesses set up various food stalls (yatais) selling anything from fried octopus and beer to delicious shaved ice and fried chicken. The food stalls, the picnickers dressed in their traditional garb, the flurry of activity along the river bank and, of course, the amazing fireworks all combine to create a spectacular festival that was well worth traveling to. The fireworks, a series of giant flowers, hearts, bamboo trees and even cartoon characters, were absolutely magnificent. It is estimated that during the 2-hour display, over 20 000 rounds of fireworks are set off at the Chunichi Newspaper’s “All-Japan Fireworks Festival”.
There were plenty of food stalls to be found along the banks of the Nagara river. This one was selling taco yaki (fried octopus balls).
Toyota city, Aichi Ken:
As part of their annual Oiden festival, Toyota City puts on a spectacular fireworks display from the Toyota Stadium. The fireworks are the culmination of the 2-day Oiden festival which consists of a city-wide dancing competition on the Saturday and ends with a magnificent fireworks display on the Sunday. This year’s Oiden festival was held from Saturday 27th through to Sunday 28th July, 2013.
Generally speaking, Toyota is a rather unremarkable city, like many other suburban areas of Japan. However, for one weekend in the
Oiden 2013- “Come on”
middle of summer, the centre of Toyota is brilliantly transformed for a weekend of festivities known as the Oiden Matsuri. “Oiden” is a word from the old Mikawa dialect of the region meaning “Come on”. The oiden cry of “Oiden mirin, odoro mai” means “Come on here, let’s dance together”. That’s exactly what Oiden Matsuri is all about. Hundreds of teams of dancers gather in the centre of the city and follow a course around the town, all dancing the oiden dance and singing the oiden song in a carnival of brightly coloured costumes. The festival concludes on Sunday evening with one of Japan’s largest annual fireworks displays. More than 10,000 fireworks are let off in a display lasting nearly two hours.
It must be mentioned that securing a good spot to view the Oiden fireworks was not the simple matter that it was in Gifu city. The good vantage points from which to watch the fireworks are the patches of grass directly in front of the stadium. Due to the fact that the space there is limited, securing a spot was no small feat. Since half
I didn’t take this photo, but thanks to the internet, i was able to find this awesome image of the fireworks display above Toyota stadium. A truly magnificent site.
of the available space was already reserved for spectators who were willing to pay a few thousand yen to watch the show, the amount of free space on the grass was further reduced. Every year, the remaining spots are hotly contested by people who are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty for the opportunity to watch the fireworks from a
Fireworks of all shapes, sizes and designs lit up the night sky above Toyota stadium.
good vantage point without having to pay a single dime. To cut a very long story short, the expression “the early bird catches the worm” rings very true here. Thanks to the knowledge supplied by those within our group of friends who have lived in Toyota city for a few years, a stealthy game plan was quickly devised. Securing our spot on the grass involved an astonishing group effort which saw people camping out on Friday night in order to secure the spot at 6AM on Saturday morning when it was open by the city officials. Subsequent to the spot having been secured, a number of us rotated through various shifts on Saturday and Sunday in order to “defend and protect” the spot from the opportunistic “vultures” who weren’t able to get their spot on time! Now that i’m typing this out, it all sounds rather drastic, however, there’s a little voice inside my head saying “it was absolutely necessary”! LOL! It was all in good fun though. The thing i enjoyed about it the most was just how wonderful it was to see our group of friends pulling together to achieve the common goal. The fact that a lot of hard work and team effort went into securing the spot, made the fireworks display even more enjoyable. A big WELL DONE to all who were involved. It was a really great effort!
I wasn’t able to take very many good photos at either of the fireworks displays because well, uh… my iPhone 4S isn’t great with night shots. However, here’s a superb video of this year’s Oiden fireworks that I came across online.
After witnessing two brilliant fireworks displays in a single weekend, it’s safe to say that we had a really good time. Such festivals in Japan are always super fun occasions to hang out with friends and take part in Japanese culture. I don’t usually get dressed up in traditional yukata (mostly because I couldn’t be bothered to go through the hassle of finding someone to dress me). However, for the Toyota Oiden Matsuri, my friends and I decided to make the effort. I’m really glad that we did because dressing like the locals can only add to the fun of attending Japanese festivals.
Soaking up the Oiden festival vibes. Whether foreign or Japanese, it was really cool to see so many of my friends dressed up in yukata.
Here’s to attending more Japanese festivals and fireworks displays next summer.
Until the next post, thanks for reading.
-Kat
Katrina in Japan 