Hope you all had a great break!
With the festival season now pretty much coming to a close, I thought it might be a good idea to review and recap some of the festivals that my wife Yoko and I are particularly fond of. The rationale behind this is that next year all of you in the Kansai area will be much better informed about which festivals to plan for, which are physically near to your area and which, above all, are really worth making an extra effort to see!
Like the other major festivals, PL Aug 1st, Otsu Biwako Aug 8th, Uji-gawa Aug 10th and of course, Yodogawa which also was on Aug 6th, the main concern you’re likely to have is the mega-crowd, one that can actually get dangerous when the show ends and everyone is in a half-panic to get back to the station and endure that crowded, not-so-great trip home! Well, Yoko is not at all unusual on this point and hates the mega-crowd even more than I do, so we set out to find ways of making life more comfortable for us. This meant finding viewing places that just don’t get the crowds, mostly because only a small number of people are aware of the location.
Well Kobe Minato usually attracts the crowd to Meriken Park, The Oriental Hotel and of course, Mosaic. These places can certainly offer a decent view of the fireworks and create a very nice atmosphere but also get dangerously crowded as you would expect. Three wharves east of Meriken Park are owned by Sumitomo, Mitsubishi and Kobe City. The third is called Pier 3 Kobe City Port and this place offers a remarkable vantage point to view the fireworks without the hassle, without the crowds. Furthermore, it is only a 15-minute walk from Flower Road.
You can be the last to arrive and the first to leave! It’s fantastic!
Martin Werner Zander, Partner in the Smith’s School of English Company
マーティン・ワーナー・ザンダー
Owner, Smith’s School Franchise in Kotoen
Thanks for the heads up, Martin. This sounds preferable to Biwako, given relatively scarce crowds. After a decade in this country, I’ve managed to see exactly zero fireworks displays, avoided on account of those niggling crowds. Amazing feat being so close to Biwa and Uji. The question is, how can I get my computer to remind of your helpful tips come August of next year?