Fireworks!

Japan has great fireworks displays throughout the summer. Last night, Lisa called me to let me know that she was meeting at the Tama station with some others from the school for a fireworks show. She said to be there at 5:15 if I was interested. It was only about 3-4 train stops from the school one to get to the place where the fireworks were (plus about a 15 minute walk).

This morning, I spent some time cleaning up and doing laundry. I feel silly for saying this, but I've never hung laundry to dry (a whole load at least) on a clothesline. I had to check it a few times and make some adjustments since it wasn't quite drying all the way. It was a pretty lazy day and I wasn't sure about going out tonight. The forecast said 90% chance of rain tonight, so I thought I'd be soaked if I went out.

I'm really glad I decided to go. It was really gray out and looked like the skies were about to open up as we arrived. The fireworks display was at the racetrack in Fuchu. So, there were stadium seats and places to sit on the ground. We saw the lightning, heard the thunder, and moved from our open seat to the stadium seating. While we were waiting for it to begin, though, the skies cleared, I saw a rainbow, and all of the dark skies were to the West of us. We moved out into the open again. It was a great show...30 minutes, set to music, and they even had some fireworks in the shape of hearts, smiley faces, and a cat! It's been a while since I've seen fireworks so I was glad I went. I missed Fourth of July two years in a row now (Africa last year, and our one stop in Canada for the cruise this year was on Fourth of July!)

I should get to bed because tomorrow might be a long day. There is the Obon Festival going on at Jindaiji so I might go there again tomorrow night.