Hanabi!

There are some things about Japan than will just never change...One of them is summer's collection of firework festivals! They are absolutely great. I remember that in Brazil, on every New Year's Eve, we would watch Rio's fireworks on TV. It was an amazing sight. However, I can now see the same thing live in various Japanese cities in the month of August. In Kobe, since it is a smaller city, the show lasts for 50 minutes. In other places there are longer exhibitions with even better quality.

This is part of our group, sitting on the floor, having a picnic and enjoying the fireworks. The two girls in yuukatas on the left, the lady straight behind me in white and the girl on the far right are students from one of my English conversation classes. Kokoro (in red), Akiko (in blue), Hiroko (behind me) and Shiho (far right)!!! The lady in balck is Hiroko's friend (Junko) and the girl beside Shiho is her friend (Yuki, I think)!

I love to walk around the city on a firework day! Young people wear their yuukatas, or Japanese summer kimonos! It is such a colorful sight. It finally looks like I am in Japan. Other than the extremely hot weather, there is not much to complain about this spectacular time of the year!

This is a couple from Osaka, who got married a few months ago. Their wedding was performed by Mansur and they came to see us in Kobe for the fireworks!

I have no idea why Japanese love crowds. If you ever come to Japan you will soon notice how they run to crowded places, go out in rush hours and line up when another 100 people are already there. And, if you join a hanabi festival, you will see that they leave as soon as its over, meaning the thousands of people walk towards a single station at the same time. A walk that usually takes 5 minutes can turn out to be a 30-40 min. walk. All of this to say that when the fireworks were over, most of us stayed where we were and finished our food and beer, while the rest of Kobe struggled to go back home.