Aomori: aomori hanabi (fireworks) is a spetacular visual feast. People from all over northeast Japan gather together in this buzzing town and celebrate the most extravagant festival of the year. I couldn't think of any gathering in the US that has similar scale or atmosphere. Later I heard from friends that the "three major matsuri" in Japan is a term the Japanese government came up with after WWII to stimulate Japanese domestic consumption.
The matsuri proves to be more than a domestic celebration. We have seen more foreigners there than we had ever seen in hakodate, even during their biggest festival. As the pictures show, crowds and crowds of people slowly moved from one vendor to the next alone the sea coast, trying out local specialties and novelties. The men held a can of beer in one hand and a ika kabob in the other hand, dragged their feet in wooden Japanese flip flops, and with the flip flops clacking the ground was their loud voice and hearty laughs. The girls were all in colorful yukata and flowery obi (the huge bowknot at their back). They trotted in the very typical Japanese feminine steps and stopped every now and then to point at vendors that sold candybars in hellokitty shapes.
When the night fell, the fireworks rose up from the sea surface. The vendors lit up the light, and the vendor street turned into a golden band swirling itself next to the dark ocean. The crowd stirred whenever a new firework shoot into the sky and exploded. The small city was bathed in the light that lit up the sky like aurora at the magic hour of the day.
Take a deep breath, let the fireworks commemorate the end, and mark a new begining.
