Missing 1st of August? No!

1st August, our National Holiday - would I have missed it being so far away from Switzerland? I have to tell you - NO! Fukuoka awaited me with a party that at least matched our 1st of August fireworks and celebrations.

On Friday evening there was a 1.5 hour firework at Ohori Koen, the city's big park right next to my dorm. Traditionally you wear a yukata (light summer kimono) for this event, so I decided to buy one (see previous post). As I had no clue how to put it on, especially the obi (belt), I got dressed at the shop where I bought the yukata. Like a princess in the middle age ;-). I basically just stood there holding out my arms and the shop assistant put it on and pulled the obi tight and made a beautful knot in the back. My yukata is light blue with purple flowers and a purple/yellow obi. Of course it does have the typical wide "Lord-of-the Rings"-type of sleeves. With it I wore Geta, the traditional Japanese shoes (sort of a flipflop) and a kitsch little flower thingy in my hair. I felt a bit strange walking back to the school in that though, it felt a bit like dress-up. Also the Geta were really uncomfortable and the yukata tightly wrapped, so I could only walk in tiny little steps.

GenkiJACS also provided a few yukatas to students, so there were more of us getting dressed up. Everybody looked really nice in it. We then walked to Ohori Koen together.

There were masses of people at Ohori Koen. I had read somewhere that the hanabi (fireworks) usually attracted about half a million of people. Ohori Koen was indeed very crowded, there were police men trying to bring some order into it, stalls with foods and drinks and a lot of people dressed up in yukatas. The fireworks were quite nice. Interestingly it weren't the large and impressive crackers that seemed to be the most popular. It was rather the cute smiley faces and heart shapes that made the people go oooh and aaah. This seems kind of logic if you see the Japanese's preference for cute things. Back home these would certainly not impress people much.

I needed to quickly go to my dorm to change shoes after. I could barely feel my feet anymore and was really uncomfortable in the Geta. So I changed to my more comfortable Clarks ballerina which still looked nice with the yukata. We went back to school and then headed for ramen and gyoza with two Japanese friends.

Later we joined the big international party at "La Bohème", organized by "Fukuoka Now", the region's English magazine. The place was really nice with a library-like sofa corner and a big rooftop terrace. Those dressed in a yukata got additional free drinks at the party, so good for me.

I talked to quite a few Japanese people throughout the night and had so much fun (well, my GenkiJ friends complained about me being away all the time). Again I had to notice that Japanese people are not all that stiff and unapproachable as people like to think in Europe. I got chatted up and introduced to more people easily and people were really cool. The only downside to the party were the Djs. There were three of them, but somehow they still didn't manage to permantly play something and there were a few awkward breaks in between.