There are certain things that every self-respecting Japanese city will be sure to have. For example, a large central Culture Hall, or bunka kaikan, to hold important events like concerts, piano recitals and taiko drum performances put on for parents by the local kindergarten kids. In April, Japan’s cherry blossoms explode with color, and virtually every Japanese city has an established park or two lined with cherry trees for their citizens to sit under, as they try pretend that their city alone is famous for sakura. If a city has more than a million residents, it starts to pine for a large tower in the center of town, and almost every major city from Tokyo to Kyoto to Fukuoka sports a tall Space Needle-like tower. Then there are big fireworks festivals, large displays of color put on for everyone’s enjoyment on a specified day during the summer. Our city’s fireworks festival was on Sunday, and the entire city oo‘d and ah‘d as the sky was lit up with beautiful “fire flowers,” as they’re called in Japanese. Fireworks, of course, go back a long way in Japanese history, and you have to wonder what it was like seeing a fireworks display back in the Edo Period.
