4th of July in Japan didn’t mean I wasn’t able to get my fill of fireworks. I lit some Japanese sparklers in honor of good ol’ America, and there happened to be a fireworks festival going on over the weekend.
It was super cloudy and humid, but we decided to make our way to the festival in Bentenjima. Apparently it’s the last year they’re doing the fireworks show. Everyone must have been aware of this fact because there was quite an overwhelming turnout. The lines just to buy a train ticket to Bentenjima from Hamamatsu were ridiculously long and going out the doors. Hundreds were waiting in line, many of them donning their yukatas. Luckily, we had our handy ICOCA cards (basically a charge card you can fill with money to use just for trains) from our time in Osaka with money already on it, so we were able to slip right past the massive line. Thanks, Kansai!
Once there, the crowds were insane. I’d say it was the most crowded matsuri I’ve ever been to in Japan (I accidentally dropped my chocolate-covered banana on some poor girl and was able to slip away without her knowing it was me….but she probably knew.). Some people went early in the morning to stake out and claim the good seating areas by the sea, but I’m glad we didn’t do that. The weather was much too poor to even see much of the fireworks displays. But it did make for some pretty neat photo effects. If you look closely in some of the photos, you can see the silhouette of the torii gate out in the sea. I first checked out this area back in May. It was pretty dead with not much to look at, so it was nice to see the same area with a much more lively atmosphere.
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