Sumidagawa Hanabi 2015 (Sumida River Fireworks)

Kris and I were invited to attend the Sumida River Fireworks Festival this year!  We received two tickets from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to watch one of the best fireworks shows in all of Japan!  The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival dates back to the early 1700's when it was a fierce competition between two rivals.  Today, the show has around 20,000 fireworks in an hour-long show, with 12 companies competing for best in show.  

We met the rest of our group at Honjo-azumabashi Station a little before 6 pm and made our way through the streets of Asakusa to Koume Elementary School's rooftop viewing area.  

Since we got on the train so far out of Tokyo, we were lucky enough to have seats as the train slowly filled with festival-goers.  I'm glad we could watch the shoving and smooshing from a safe distance on the train car!  We made it to our station and everyone started filing out of the train...wowza! Look at the people!!  That's just the line to get OUT of the station!  It took us a bit just to get above ground.  

On our way through the HOT streets of Asakusa we passed tarp after tarp after tarp, all reserved for the evening's show.  Many people arrive in the morning (7 or more hours before the first fireworks are even shot into the sky).  To "reserve" your spot, you just lay out your tarp.  You can even lay out your tarp and then take off to explore the city a bit...no one will mess with your stuff while you're gone.  There were several spots that even had little wooden tables set up so everyone could sit around the table to eat!

We made it to Koume Elementary School around 630 and made our way to the roof.  Once on the roof, we found our table and chatted with our hosts and hostesses for the evening.

For dinner we were given an amazing bento box with food from all over Japan, water, tea, wine and beer.

Our Japanese hosts thought it was quite funny that I would take a picture of the food...I've never seen a bento box like this before!  It was yummy!  I think I ate almost everything, I skipped the egg and noodles.  I also ended up skipping the sweet potato, even though it's one of my favorites, because I couldn't politely pick it up and eat it...if I was home I would have used my fingers.  :)

Top row:  Boiled clams and Nori from Tokyo; Octopus Dumplings from Osaka; Sesame rice from Nagano; Fried oyster from Hiroshima

Middle row:  red beet, chicken dumpling, fish paste from Irate, Miyagi, Yamagata; rice with fish flakes from Kyoto; egg, flounder roe from Fukuoka; buckwheat rice and pickled ginger from Kobe

Bottom row:  Salmon roe rice from Hokkaido; Shrimp and broccoli from Yokohama; tonkatsu from Nagoya; sweet potato from Saitama


After a quick speech from the President of the Fireworks Committee, we waited for the show to begin.

I love taking pictures of Sky Tree!!!  

Especially with pretty pink clouds and lovely blue sky in the background.

Let the show begin!  Right off the bat...1,495 fireworks in less than ten minutes!!  This is over an hour long show, folks!  The program shows 22 separate demonstrations in 1 hour 20 minutes.  Each demonstration has a different theme...The beginning with Thunder, Gallant Fireworks, After the Rain, The Kaleidoscope Like a Jewel on the River, Finding Mushrooms on the Sumida River, The Rain of Cherry Blossoms, The Drunkard in Summer, Pocket Monsters, The Space Shuttle, Many Flowers of Edo, etc.  All-in-all, over 20,000 fireworks were set off during the show!  12 different companies had the chance to set off 20 fireworks each in the competition.

Here's a quick clip of one minute out of the 85 minute show.

Pocket Monsters

The Space Satellite

It's hard to see in this shot, but on the other side of the big buildings in the distance is a second fireworks show.  There are two venues for fireworks (trying to keep with the history of the fireworks where two feuding clans would set off their own shows and the crowds would chant their favorite clan name to show who won).  We didn't have a good view of Venue 2's show.  The competition was only at Venue 1, so we had upfront seats for that one!  Also, that's the MetLife blimp brightly lit to the right.

Once the show was finished, we made our way to Oshiage Station....Wow!  The people!  There were sooooooooooooo many people walking up and down the streets, queued in line for train stations and train cars.  It was crazy!  There were roughly 1,000,000 people in attendance.  We saw many girls dressed in beautiful yukatas (summer kimono).

I told you...I love to take pictures of Sky Tree!  Here's a closer shot.  I think this is the first time we've seen it from this side.  

As we got closer I just happened to notice it turned rainbow colors!!  So, I've seen it in blue, green, red, purple, and now rainbow!

Our group made it onto a crowded train and headed toward home.  After a quick change at Shinagawa we found seats and got to sit for the last 35 minutes or so of the ride.

Wow!  What an experience!!  Even though it was insanely hot when we arrived (over 90F/33C with stupid-thick humidity) we guzzled water and drank cold beer (maybe it was drank water and guzzled beer, I can't remember) and used whatever paper was available to fan ourselves.  Occasionally, a nice breeze would kick up and fan us naturally.  As soon as the sun was close to the horizon the unbearable heat subsided to become just a warm summer evening.

I can't seem to find any information on who won the fireworks competition.  Someone said it was contestant number 9.  Well, I don't know if that means #9 on the schedule (The Japanese Fireworks Viewing Banquet) or the 9th competitor to show (The Drunkard in Summer~yes, I sang that as if I was Olaf).  Either way, my favorite was The Kaleidoscope, it was definitely like looking through one of those tubes I always had plastered to my eyes as a kid.

If you are in Japan next summer, please don't be afraid of the crowds and chose not to go.  There are many places to stand and watch, even if you make it there last minute.  You don't have to reserve a spot to watch.  They set off several test shots a full hour before the show began, so if you arrive a little early you can wait for a test shot and then figure out where to sit.

Hakone Open Air Museum

I'm so grateful a girlfriend messaged me Monday and said, "Hey, do you want to go with us..."  What an awesome day at the Hakone Open Air Museum!!!  Okay...so, maybe the day didn't quite start out right.  I decided to take the longer train ride (by only a few minutes) but the shorter walk.  Instead of walking all the way to Yokosuka Station, we decided to have Daddy drive us to Daiei gate and we walked across the street to Shioiri Station.  From here we were supposed to ride to Kanazawa Hakkei then switch trains and head to Jinmuji Station.  Well, what had happened was....<sigh> I got confused!  I really should have got up earlier and had that extra cup of coffee!  We made it to the right platform, I just got on the train that was one minute too early.  So, we ended up going all the way back to where we started.  Ugh!  When we made it back to Kanazawa Hakkei (yes, children, we have seen this train station already today.  Yes, children, I went the wrong way.) the second time I asked someone just to be sure.  This time we were going the right direction.  Only about 40 minutes late.  Gah!  I can't stand being late.  Ok...so, lateness behind us...we hopped on the ~twisty~ road and made our way to Hakone.  I think the drive was about an hour and a half.  And, there was only one toll, 260 Yen that you toss into a bucket.

There was plenty of parking, not many spaces were even filled (500 yen for the first 5 hours, 1000 yen after that).  We all made our way to the ticket counter and went on in.  1600 Yen for adults, 800 Yen for elementary age kids.  And, here begins our adventure at the Open Air Museum (or, as Mackenzie called it, "The Inappropriate Museum")

Down some stairs and through a tunnel...a museum that is outside!  Genius!

Our first stop was "Zig Zag World"

"A geometric space where the principles of nature are present....the elements within the natural world have been rendered in a geometrical fashion..."

I thought I'd see how artsy my little artist could be, so I asked:  Mackenzie, what do you think the poles represent?  

Her answer:  I think they are trees.  And that red thing over there is a mountain.  Then, Raelyn and I want to make a house with the little pieces.  

After some tough work convincing the kids to leave this awesome area, we made it back outside and started our tour of the grounds.  

The kids blew right past this structure and on to the mysterious doors that led into the ground....much more interesting for kids.

In she goes...

Down the steps...

Through something that looked like intestines...

And, back out into a glass structure...

...it was kind of like being digested.

"Surprise with the Glare" ~ Takao Tsuchida 1990 (left)

"Sound of Wind" ~ Takao Tsuchida 1989 (right)

This is the back side of the museum.  The glass area on the right is the entryway.  Inside were the special displays.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but there were tons of whirligigs ("Sound Forest" ~ bamboo, paper, nylon trying, pine needles) and bells and chimes ("Sound Garden" ~ bamboo, sand, sound, paper ~ a wind instrument concert) and water, sand, and fans ("Sound Theater" ~ bamboo, motors, paper, water, sand pine needles, sound ~ a shadowgraph sound installation)...all seemed to be set to timers and played music, moved up and down, turned around in a circle.  It was beautiful!

After the kids flew past the warrior-looking statues we found a foot path and followed the steps.

At the bottom of the stairs....the Diamond Structure ~ Peter Jon Pearce 2011, polycarbonate and stainless steel

The kids ran through this space at an alarming speed!  They squealed, got lost, found each other again, got pretty sweaty, and then collapsed in one bubble.

Pay no attention to the age limit sign above my head...

At this point I got behind everyone else, and then took a wrong turn and got lost!  I know, shocking!  While I was wandering in this quiet area, the kids were at the pond feeding the fish.

Also in the water was this structure.  "Floating Structure 3" ~ Marta Pan 1963

I was trying to figure out exactly what it was when Stephanie said, If you look from here you can see the fish.

How about that!  I probably never would have seen that...I would have just walked on and not looked back. 

 A few creatures to look at.

I was trying to find the other balls that this huge guy would bang into and wondered how in the world they pulled the first one back to bang the others.  

I agree with Daniel, "Creepy".  "Rupture" ~ Atsushi Imoto 1969

We couldn't walk around on the grass, so we had to look from afar.  It didn't matter too much, the kids were running off on the hunt for the net area.

"Intersecting Space Construction"  The red are women and the black are men.

Lunch time!  After the kids jumped around on the eggs for a bit, we sat and ate our lunch.

Boxing Bunnies and Boxing Children

That Jenga looking space in the back is the awesomeness I will show you in a minute... the front of the picture is the Garden of Stars.  It's a little labyrinth that you can get lost in.

Into the Jenga house we go...

Also known as "Woods of Net" 

The net area!!!  The kids took off!!!

Complete and total awesomefuncrazychildren area!  The kids found a hole, climbed in and headed into the center of the nets.  Garytt had problems finding his way out.  I would hear, "Dead End!" and then he would change direction.  I really wanted to get in there, but there was an age limit...and cameras.  Darn.  

I sent my little camera in with Mackenzie to take pictures inside the nets.  It looks like a picture from a Dr. Suess book.  Maybe Oh, the Places You'll Go.

Next up:  The Star Garden.  The kids played here for a bit, then it started raining on us.  So, we headed back to the Jenga house and played until the rain settled down a bit before making a jog for the indoor Picasso exhibit.

No pictures were allowed inside this exhibit.  Wow...there is a ton of stuff in there.  It seems to me that when he died, or when his wife died, someone went in and picked up every single piece of scrap, scribble, and splash they could find.

On our way to the foot bath we found they "Symphonic Structure".  Amazing glasswork!  I'll spare you the thousand pictures I took in here.  It was one of those pieces where you see something new from every different direction.  

The view from the top of the windy stairs.  It would have been peaceful if I couldn't hear the kids through the sound amplifying tube saying, from the bottom, "Where ARE they?"  "What is taking them SO LONG?"

The foot bath

A look down from the top

The foot bath was fun!  It was 65 degrees.  You walk up, take off your shoes, and dunk your feet in.  When you're done, you can pay 100 yen for a towel to dry your feet.

The oranges floated around in there gave it a nice aroma. 

One of the favorites of the day...well, one of the non-interactive favorites of the day. 

SPLAT!

They told me to be quiet because they were attending a wedding.

Strange lady

What would a post in the summer be without pictures of ajisai (hydrangea)?

"Mother and Child"

"Hand of God"

The kids played rock, paper, scissors with this one....I think he may have won.

One last stop in the Zig Zag World before a trip to the gift shop and then home we went!

What an awesome museum!!  It's been on my list to visit for a while and it was more fun than I imagined.  The weather was nice for the most part.  A little rain while we played under cover didn't mess up that day.  My kids looked at some beautiful pieces and interacted with some as well.   One more reason to love Hakone!  Also, it's been added to the list of things we want to show family when they visit..."The Unappropriate Museum" ~ Garytt