After a three-year break due to the “virus of unknown origin,” the summer fireworks festival returned last Sunday. I was delighted to be given front-row tickets by a family friend. My daughter was back from Kyoto for the summer holidays so we all went down to the local harbor together to enjoy the show. It was a lovely night, a little cooler than it has been and fairly windy. Fortunately the wind was blowing away from us.
The hanabi show began at 8pm and went on for 45 minutes. That seems to be the norm in Japan. I’m so glad they decided to stop playing music during the show a few years back. It’s so unnecessary and spoils the natural atmosphere in my opinion. But maybe I’m old fashioned? I’d much rather hear the BOOM of the fireworks and the spectators’ “oohs” and “aahs”, especially the childrens’ voices. Do they play music at the firework displays where you live?
There were a mixture of single big fireworks and choreographed clusters, as well as attempted shapes such as hearts, rabbits, smiley faces and characters. The town where I live is only small so it isn’t one of the more famous Japanese Hanabi displays. You can find more information about those here.
Here is a short video I took with my smartphone. It’s from the last five minutes of the show. Please enjoy.
Thanks so much for reading!
-Wakizashi, *back to work from today*
Wakizashi's Reviews 
Beautiful!
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Thanks Ola! It was so good to see them again after three years of cancelled festivals.
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I wanted to write exactly that!
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Thank you!
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No music here. I’ve never heard of that actually. I feel that it would really detract from the fireworks…
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It does! They only did it a few times thank goodness. I think whoever thought it was a good idea was taken into one of those Japanese haunted forests and tied to a tree!!
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Yeah, where I live we don’t have many fireworks displays. Pretty much only on New Years, and they always play music. The music usually sounds kind of bad through the big speakers that are set up in parks and viewing areas and it really does detract from the fireworks. Wow 45 minutes of fireworks! The displays that my local cities put on are usually only about 10 minutes long. The fireworks display you attended must have had so many fireworks, it must have been really amazing!
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In the UK we have the 10 minute New Years fireworks displays too. The big one in London plays a mix of popular music. I guess it’s because it’s New Year and they are going for a party atmosphere.
45 minutes is long but they save the best for the end, so the last 5 minutes are usually the best part of the show. It’s a great experience and I hope you can visit one day and experience the summer festival for yourself.
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me too!
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I’d heard the word hanabi before, possibly in anime, movies or music, but I didn’t realize it referred to fireworks. That’s awesome, and a beautiful display. I’d seen videos before of these in Japan. Around here we really only have fireworks on our Independence Day (4th of July) and sometimes at News Year’s. When I lived in Germany New Year’s was the big fireworks day. I don’t ever recall music, but it wasn’t all that often I got right up close to the show, so perhaps I just never heard it. Is this a one-time summer display, or do you see them throughout the summer season?
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Yes, they have the big displays one night during the summer. Some tourist resorts will have mini displays each night though. There is a hot spring resort in this city that has 5 minutes of fireworks every night. I think it goes on for 2 or 3 weeks.
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