Okazaki Hanabi

That day was so hot, maybe around 37°C.

Great crowds of people, often wearing yukata, were heading to the river of Okazaki.

We had not reserved any seat so the quest for some space on the river banks led us so far away from the epicentre of the firework.

People had reserved their space on the grass days in advance by laying down plastic sheets, stones and ropes.

It only works in Japan by the way ... do that in Belgium and you'll find people siting on your plastic sheet. You'll tell them "this is my plastic sheet, this is the space I reserved", they'll look at you amused saying "earth belong to all of us" or "your name is not written on it" ...

Back to Okazaki, I had purchased the whole set... yukata, obi belt, getta shoes, bag, fan, and was preparing in my hotel room.

It needs quite a lot of work the first time, even with someone helping you.

But the effect was great, the locals were approving my style by their satisfied look and head nodding.

We met the kimono crew and searched for a space.

Actually, my colleague and me had 2 free seats on top of the Okazaki New Grand hotel, the BEST spot to watch the fireworks.

But we were 7, so it would be difficult to sneak in before the beginning.

We first had some drinks and takoyaki (octopuss in dumplings) on the river bank, waiting for the start.

Like at the theater, they started to fire a few bangs every 15 minutes to announce the beginning.

And then it came, a giant, beautiful, colorful explosion of light!

Two hours after we had started to drink beer, we all feeled the urge to release ourselves so we headed back to the hotel through a massive pack of hundres of people standing in the streets.

It took 30 minutes to walk the path I usually do in 5 minutes...

But we made it on time, and could watch the final on the roof of the hotel !

There were around 400.000 people in the streets that day.