Yesterday was quite the exciting day. I have firework remains stuck to me and smell like something blew up in my face (yes it is 10:30 the next day and I still haven't had a shower...) but it was worth it. I went to Omigari with three friends yesterday. Omigari, for those of you uneducated in Japanese festivals (I don't know how you could ever be educated on those things because during the summer it seems like there's a different festival every day), is one of the biggest firework competitions in Japan. Thirty companies were competing for the title of having the best fireworks, and every year tons of people come to that one town/city to watch it. I say town/city because I'm not sure what it's like without all those people. Apparently the population is only around 40 000, but every year about 700 000 people come to watch these fireworks. I have never felt more like a fish in my life. A very white fish in a very asian sea. (I think it was not unlike what the Exodus would look like.)
Our train arrived at around 3 in the afternon and we followed the masses the 30 minute hike (in the intense heat) to the firework grounds where we found a place to sit and wait for the afternoon fireworks to start. I had never heard of afternoon fireworks before either, but apparently some genious figured out how to make it work. It's really just a lot of colored smoke and bright flashes in the sky, but it was pretty neat. Then, when it got dark, the real fireworks came. Canada Day in Sasky has nothing on these fireworks; it was quite the show. Someone figured out how to make shapes with the fireworks, so sometimes, amongst the already amazing fireworks you could see cats, or angels (really they were some sort of edible sea creature that look like angels...), stars, hearts, apples, the Qoo drink mascot.
And, someone way back figured out that fireworks are much better when they are choreographed with music. (One set even featured the Aladdin song "A Whole New World" which I may or may not have sang along with really loudly just because I knew the song; and hey, it was Aladdin, who can't help but sing to Aladdin? And all the people around me may or may not have been staring...but hey. I'm white. I can get away with a lot in this monolithic society. And I told the people I was with that gaikokujin are just naturally louder than Japanese people; they agreed.)
Occasionally the wind would bring firework shrapnel the way of the crowd. When it first started coming I was like, 'I want to catch a piece!' and then literally 10 seconds later a big one came to me, falling from the sky, and I snatched it right out of the air. I was elated. It's my newest souveneir.
But just one thing I was a little disappointed at. Fireworks are really hard to take good pictures of I've discovered. And finally after over 4 hours of taking pictures, reviewing them, erasing them, waiting for a good shot, taking it, and then erasing it because it was horrible, my batteries finally gave out. ...Right before the big finale. How disappointing. None of you will ever get to see what it looked like, but trust me, it was amazing.
There is one advantage about living in the country: not many people live there. When the fireworks were over, the train station staff were coralling people according to what train they were taking to what city, the lines were absolutely overflowing with people...except our line. Us countryfolk got to just walk straight through, past the hoards of people, straight up to the front doors and onto the train. I have never felt more like a movie star or some other famous person in my life. All these people held back behind metal gates while you get to prance right by them and into your mode of transportation. But that was definitely a train-full of countryfolk. I'd hate to see the other trains.
At a little after 2am I finally got safely home (with only a minorly exhausted head from hearing and speaking Japanese for over 15 hours straight)....just to wake up a few hours later to go to church. But it was amazing.
And I think tomorrow when I wake up I'll have a shower so I don't have to smell like a bomb anymore.