Way Back from August

I was looking back at old pictures and I realized that I left several adventures out of the blog because I was so darn busy finishing up the term and getting ready for my trip to Oregon. I figured I would go back in time and post about some of what happened in August.

First: More fireworks.

I did post about the fireworks we went to in Kobe, but there were more fireworks the following weekend in Osaka. These promised to be even more of a scene, so of course we went. In fact, trying to prove that yes, we can improve on a good thing, we decided to go extra early this time and stake claim to a good seat. The problem was that we didn't know where the fireworks would be. A friend said that everyone goes to the Juuso train stop to see the fireworks, so we headed that direction. We arrived at about 2pm (fireworks weren't going to start until about 7 or 8) and sure enough, there were signs everywhere pointing out the way to the river. We found the river, saw the parallel river of food vendors and decided we were in the right place. Almost no one was there yet - just a few intrepid watchers like ourselves starting to pick out grassy spots near the walk way. The bank was rather steep, but if you got your butt close enough to the walk way it was flat enough that you generally stayed where you intended to be.
It was hot this particular day. Really penetratingly hot. We had stopped at a convenience store on the way to the river and picked up some jugs of tea and water and some frozen jugs of tea that we could drink later on after they had thawed. We also spotted a picnicking tarp and a black parasol/umbrella. We felt very prepared. We even had video games and books from home. We hunkered down for a long, hot wait - under the parasol. One of my activities for the day was to try and capture a few good pictures of girls in Yukatas to show on the blog, but its not really okay to take pictures of others clandestinely, and taking fast pictures usually doesn't work out so well. The closest I got was a quick shot of a pair setting up camp below us.

About 5pm the food vendors really started to open. I tried to take pictures to show just how extensive this row of vendors was. You could see lit tents winding all the way along the river with no break as far as you could see. They were on each side of a walk that paralelled the river and the walk between the carts was absolutely packed tight with fireworks goers. Especially once it got dark. The majority of vendors were selling fair food - shish-kebab, fruit-kebab, baby castella (cakes), octopus balls, yakisoba and all manner of other tasty items, There were also a few game carts where you could win stuffed animals, goldfish, or - get this - baby turtles. The turtles were the most popular that night. There were a number of stands and hundreds of baby turtles at each. I really wonder what happens to the poor things in the long run. We did see several ponds that looked pretty well stocked in weeks past.

By fireworks time all of the slope below us was covered with people - which was amazing because it was so steep it was truly difficult to stay on it. By the end of the fireworks everyone was a few feet farther down the slope than they had started. In any case, we were all ready for the show. The first few fireflowers (as they are called in Japanese) went up.... and we realized we were pretty damn far away. In fact, the show was on the other side of the bridge we could see in the distance. Damn! That had not been the intention - though it now made sense why no one else had really shown up until closer to 7. Oh well. Live and learn. We will be ready next year. The show was much more impressive than the Kobe show, but it was so far away that it was not that much different than watching on a television. Of course, street food did still make the trip very worth it. We enjoyed what we could see of the fireworks and ate well. What more can we really ask for?