Hanabi (Fireworks) Festival in Nagaoka

This is Nagaoka City, about 64km from Niigata. Nagaoka has always been known for its Hanabi Matsuri, or the Fireworks Festival from 2nd to 4th August every year. We went on the 4th. The Hanabi Festival is the time when people dress up in yukata (summer kimono) for the summer festival. The fireworks display goes on for 2 hours and for 3 consecutive days. Big companies sponsor the event and in return, their names get mentioned for every batch of fireworks that are fired up.


This picture was taken at the Nagaoka train station. We took the bullet train from Niigata to Nagaoka. The high-speed rail only took us 15 minutes to reach there. The city was trickling with people donning the yukata. One thing I like about Japan is that, culture and traditions are never dead and are as lively as before; people always don their best traditional costumes for whatever occasions and festivals. That is one thing that we Malaysians could learn from the Japanese. Try donning a Cheongsam (if you are Chinese) in KL, and you will get eyes from all directions!


Konan brought us to meet his Ivorian friends who brought us to a cool rooftop place to have a sitting tabehodai (which literally means eat-till-you-drop), with free flow of liquor, beer, sushi, sashimi, fruits and etc. Apparently, it is a secret place where only few Japanese know about the event at the rooftop and view the fireworks at vantage point, and the friends got to know about it because it was their part-time job place. The Japanese really know how to pamper themselves and I really hate it! hahaha....
There were plenty of food and fruits. I was so stuffed, I loathed thinking about sashimi after that!



The fireworks display was splendid! At first, I was hesitating whether to come because my final exam was only 2 days away, but I never regretted coming after that because I had such a wonderful experience with great companion, good food, drinks and a fantastic view of the fireworks.