Summer Festivals - Part II

Yodogawa Fireworks
My first glance of the riverbank was soon after I arrived. With the chill of winter dancing with the wind, the cold grey water and grassless gravel flats were bleak and depressing.

As the spring marched across the lanscape, greenery moved from the shallows, across the rocky bank and onto the plains. Large triangle outlines etched in white powder appeared and on weekends the cheers and jeers of pre-pubesent youths could be heard as future Baseball League players bested each out in their glare-catching whites.

The river had become a friend. Its murky depths glisten at night as we drank on the wateredge, trains rushing past us, the skyline alight with dedicated Salarymen completing their 10 hour days. As summer hit, couples and groups ventured down with armfuls of alchohol, food and fireworks. Explosions erupt every 50 meters and clouds of smoke stumble across the foreground like Sunday bests in a tumbledrier.

Tonight was the Yodogawa Hanabi. The posters had been plaster and hung across the neighbourhood, a giant red fireflower exploding across the river.

With the promise of over 1/2 a million people lining the riverfront, I wandered down 3 hours before the big event. The grounds swarmed with thousands and thousand of people. Old men and young children. Granmothers and young lass dressed in finely woven Kimonos and Yukkata. Every inch of the area was awash with faces. Every inch of the ground covered in blue tarpe, cartoon motiff blanks and bodies.

A wall of Portable Toilets had been setup near the bridge, the last dozen had their doors removed and service as express urinals. As I walked pass them I glanced back across the crowd. Japanese people were surely less selfconscious about emptying their bladders then I, with thousands of eyes on my back, I would need to return to my apartment to empty myself for the nights festivals.

I return to the grimy streets and neon of Juso. My local bar had invited me and a handful of close friends and customers to view the spectacle from their roof. A dozen or so of us walked up to the forth floor and had a perfect view between the skyscrapers. For 2 hours I enjoyed another amazing display of colour and sound.