Hello, NILS students learning Japanese language in summer program went to see the fireworks display held at Ohori Koen Park on August 1. Here are their comments on the event. They had a very good time there and I believe they definitely want to come back again to see beautiful fireworks.

On the first day of August, our class went to go view the fireworks from a humble park located about 30 minutes from school. We left all together at 7:00pm and got there just in time for the Hanabi seeing! Keep in mind there were 450,000 people all dong what we were doing! The fireworks were magnificent. Some spar lied sparklers in your hand, others would have 2-in-1and blow up twice. Not to mention, they had tons of food options too. Takoyaki, Shirakoori, Cotton candy! It was all so so good and I would do it all again. After an hour and half we went back to the train station to go back with our stomachs full and a smile on our face.
—Dar-san, from the U.S.

When we were originally told about the fireworks, I expected just a firework show. But when we got to the festival, I was so much more! There were tons of food stalls with interesting, new foods to try and lots of cute girls wearing Yukata! Hirose-sennsei and I also went walking around the huge park to look for festival masks, but it was so hard to actually get anywhere with how many people there were! I kept getting lost! The fireworks were beautiful and they went on for a full hour and a half, which is not very common in America at all. It was by far my favorite activity!
—Cami-san, from the U.S.

Today’s school event was to attend the Oohori Park fireworks display. Because the display was in the evening, there was no school during the day. I met the teachers at Oohori park station and we went to the park to find a good place. The park was full of people, and so many wearing kimonos. I got to try some snacks from the yatai: yaki ika (grilled squid), butou ame (candied grapes), and potato mochi. Then we watched he fireworks – the full 1.5 hours! Compared to Europe it was so long, but quite similar. The start and end were very impressive, although in the middle it was just one firework at a time, but still impressive to see a display for that long, and to experience it surrounded by Japanese people and eating festival food. While waiting in line for mochi, I chatted to a 7 year old boy after I let him share my umbrella during a bit of rain. 🙂
—Adam-san, from the U.K.

August 12th News, from NILS Japanese language school.