Ali's and Dayle's hairdresser, Michiyo, invited us (Ali, Dayle, Lori, Noriko--Michiyo's friend, Tim, and me) to visit her friend, Yumiko, in Yanagawa, about an hour or so away from Fukuoka. Yanagawa has an annual fireworks festival for 3 days in November. It is a city named for it's weeping willows and has many canals. The canals make it a perfect city for viewing a festival from a boat. The festival starts after dark when all of the lanterns are lit. The gondolas full of people start navigating through the canals. From the boats, the people can see theater, drumming, other musical selections, sparklers, and fireworks while eating dinner. It's also fun to walk around at the festival but looks like it would be way better from a boat. Unfortunately the boats are $100 per person and have to be booked a year in advance.
Since it was too late for us to book an evening boat, we went in the afternoon. It was pouring down rain when we woke up and we were all dreading the day. However, as soon as we got there, the sun peeped out and we had a wonderful time on the boat and strolling through the cute town.
Michiyo, Dayle, Yumiko, Tim, and our fabulous tour guide
Noriko, Lori, Me
another group passing by...view of the canal and weeping willows
lanterns
womens taiko
scary monkey theater
The performers wanted a group picture with us. They also insisted that Tim wear one of their shirts.
We had a great time at dinner and enjoyed meeting wonderful new people. Maybe next year we will get to see the festival from a gondola. However, we may have missed the boat on that! ;-)
The girls at dinner. Tim put up with all of us!
Fireworks!
These pictures don't do the festival any justice!
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