花火

Hanabi is the Japanese word for Fireworks. Every summer in Japan, people gather near a major body of water, like the Tokyo Bay or along a big river, to watch the fireworks light up the summer nights.

This year is my first, but since I am a lazy kid, I only went to the nearest one in Futakotamagawa, which certainly isn't the best but spectacular nonetheless.

Here are some of the photos I took.

Another interesting thing aside from the lights are the costumes that the Japanese wear called yukatas (cotton kimonos) when they go and watch hanabi. I was meaning to wear one but couldn't find my size. Anyway, there are still many hanabi's to come so probably I'd try wearing one next time.

Yukata (the one that the man is wearing is the long version. I have seen shorter versions though, like worn as a short)