Fireworks Festival

For most of Japan, the coming of autumn marks an end to the almost nightly banging, crashing and gunpowder-scented air of the fireworks festivals. Yes, there may be a few straggling events at the beginning of September, but that is pretty much it. But then, in late November, when the air is finally starting to chill and winter begins its icy approach, there is one outlier of a festival; one of the best. About the Nagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival Every year on November 23, some 430,000 spectators from all over Japan converge on the Saigawa riverbanks in Nagano City to watch what is described as one of the best such autumn festivals in the country. Unlike many fireworks festivals, which are simply for the viewing enjoyment of the local community, this event is a fireworks competition, with different factions – often sponsored by local companies -competing to put on the best and brightest performances. As a rule, the competitors fall into two camps: shock, utilizing huge explosions with a seeming intention to break the heavens by sending cacophonies of sound ricocheting into the sky and back down to earth and shuddering into the chests of the enthralled crowds, and awe, with glorious patterns…