Cross-cultural communication （64）　

64) Memories of fireworks
Fireworks, a quintessential part of the Japanese summer, are also an essential attraction at summer events internationally. In New York and Paris, where I lived for several years each, fireworks were also an essential part of the summer events. In New York, the highlight of the 4th of July Independence Day celebrations, and in Paris, the highlight of the 14th of July Revolution Day celebrations (in Japan, this is called Paris-sa; Festival in Paris, and in France it is simply called Quatorze Juillet = 14th of July) are the fireworks displays.

I saw the fireworks on the 4th of July in New York twice. The start date for American residents was July 1st, so in my first year there was no time to go and watch the fireworks. In my second year, I watched them from the balcony of my friend Bert's apartment in Brooklyn Heights (which is on the western edge of Brooklyn and faces the East River, where the fireworks are set off). Bert is of Italian descent, and he treated me to his specialty of pasta, salad and red wine. The third year, just before I returned to Japan, I went out along the East River with some Japanese friends I knew, and after watching the fireworks, we returned to my apartment in Greenwich Village and celebrated the last Independence Day of my life in New York over a beer.

In France, the 14th of July is not just a nighttime extravaganza like the American Independence Day. In fact, there are more attractions during the day, with a variety of performances. Even though it's France, everything is concentrated in the city of Paris, so you can enjoy all these performances in Paris alone. The last group to march down the Champs-Elysees in Paris is the famous “Foreign Legion”, which is well known in Japan, especially among fans of French films. It has become a tradition for a formation of French Air Force fighter jets to fly low over the parade.

The Seine River is a popular spot for fireworks at night. However, whether it's the Champs-Elysees in the daytime or the Seine River at night, there are just too many people. When you have a lot of connections, you can get invitations from the owners of the buildings overlooking the Champs-Elysees or the residents of the high-rise apartments along the Seine River, but unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to do so.

Even in Kansai, there are many fireworks displays in the summer, such as the Tenjin Festival, the Yodogawa River Fireworks, the Kobe Maritime Fireworks, the Ashiya Beach Fireworks, and the PL Fireworks. However, there are too many people at all of them, so I don't feel like going to watch them. I mainly watch the images of the fireworks on TV while drinking beer and indulging in memories of New York and Paris.

On August 5th 2017, I went to see real fireworks for the first time in a while. It was the “Port of Kobe Fireworks Festival”. This year marked the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Port of Kobe, so 15,000 fireworks were launched over the course of an hour. The opera concert held on the same day at the Matsukata Hall on the 4th floor of the Kobe Shimbun Building was linked to this fireworks festival, and the plan was to watch the fireworks from the balcony on the 4th floor of the building after the concert. Without a doubt, these fireworks were the best I have ever seen. The quantity and quality of the fireworks, the location from which we watched them, and the lingering effect of the concert that preceded them were all outstanding, and far superior to the fireworks displays I have seen in New York, Paris, and other places in the Kansai region.

| BACK |