What I'm Doing on My Summer Vacation

I have finally made it to Holiday Time! I came to Karuizawa on the Shinkansen and visited for two days with my friends, the Kuraishis. Now I am ensconced in the OMF House in the grouund floor apartment. I will be here till September 4. Look for new pictures by double clicking on one of the slide shows on the left. (Captioned for you, Fran, and one for you, Ed.)

New photos

I've uploaded some new photos that my friend Ruth let me have of our trip to Nikko and of the recent Fireworks in Ichikawa. She obviously has a better camera than I. She got some great shots and great color.

If you want to see them, double click on one of the slideshows to the left and it should take you to all of my pictures on Picasa. Chose a collection and click on it. Let me know what you think.

Hanabe Taikai

On the first Saturday in August the city of Ichikawa traditionally has a fireworks display. This past Saturday night was "it". The fireworks are set off at the edge of the Edogawa River which is the boundary between Chiba Prefecture and the City of Tokyo (which is big enough to be it's own Prefecture!) A levee runs along the river and I have never before viewed the show from inside the levee. The trick is to have friends who stake out a place beforehand (early in the day on Saturday) by fastening down a blue tarp on the ground. The friends then take you to the spot or direct you by use of the numbers on top of the levee and a mobile phone conversation.
This year our pastor was convinced to be the person to reserve a place for anyone connected with the church or OMF to have a place to sit.

When you reach your tarp by cautiously skirting around everyone else's, you leave your shoes at the edge and find a comfortable spot. Once seated, food is the first order of business, and various cold foods begin to appear among those in the group and everything is shared around. Some groups brought small portable lights for their group others just ate and chatted in the quickly falling darkness.

The show starts promptly at seven with a few speeches from local dignitaries and then with the actual display. The great majority of the fireworks are shot high into the sky with very little interval between explosions. There were occasional diversions to displays at the water's edge accompanied by appropriate music. One featured the Olympic rings and an outline of Mt Fuji.

The program with one break of about 5 minutes lasted an hour and a half. I tell people that the colors are on a broader spectrum than I have seen at home. There are pinks and lavenders and soft greens in addition to bright colors. The other great difference I have read is that Japanese fireworks are spherical while those in the US are cylindrical. It makes a big difference in the visual effect. Difficult to describe, wonderful to watch.