Omagri Hanami

The weekend after I got back from Cambodia I went to a firework festival in Akita, the prefecture just north of Yamagata. I have been so busy catching up that it has taken this long to make the post. Omagari festival is said to be ichiban/THE BEST firework display in the country. It is hard to say if this is true, but the 700,000 people that showed up tells me that it definitely isn't the worst and probably up there in popularity in Japan.

It was difficult to find a spot to sit because on arrival we realized you could pay and reserve seats or go super early, tape down your mat and leave to reserve a free seat. We had done neither of those. Luckily being foreigners and looking confused some people offered us a small spot that we were able to squeeze in. From there the show began. They had some sort of event that happened in the daylight where fireworks shot parachutes in the air and people would run around catching them. This was almost a bigger hit to the Japanese people than the actual fireworks themselves.

Finally the sun went behind the mountains and the REAL show began. It lasted for three hours consisting of displays with music and one grand final display at the end. It was amazing!!

When it was over we were exhausted and covered in ash. Because of all the people we had to line up for our train 1 km away from the station. Getting on the train we were pushed and everyone was packed in like a can of sardines. Crazy way to end the day.