Shimamatsuri Fireworks
Here’s a video of the fireworks show from the annual Shimamatsuri in Hakata. It’s cut down to about 4 minutes from the outstanding length of 45 minutes. Now THAT is a fireworks show. This year’s local “Island Festival” took place at the Marine Park again on the evening of August 13th. I wore a yukata for the first time in public, and was told it suited me. Probably just polite lies. But unfortunately, in any event, I have ZERO pictures of myself. Brilliant planning, no? I know. My mind was elsewhere. The 14th and 15th were Matsuyama Orientation days, and I had presentations on both days. Then the 16th I had to hop on the express train to Okayama and the Shinkansen from there to Tokyo for a week. Craziness. Needless to say, the only thing that captured my full attention was the fireworks display. Enjoy the video - the shot of me watching turned out way more full-faced, sweaty, and creepy than I intended. Whoops. Ha ha ha. Make sure to watch for the 2 specialty fireworks - the phoenix / bird shape (which was spectacular), and the Doraemon (which was barely recognizable, except that they played his theme music over loudspeakers while they shot them).