Summer Fireworks

Summer fireworks have started in Japan. Most of the summer festivals have a firework display at the end. It's a great celebration at the end of a fun weekend. But fireworks are different in Japan. They are not like in other countries I have visited.

To talk about fireworks in Japan, I want to talk about sports. If you watch a game of table tennis, it is fast and exciting for around 30 minutes. If you watch a cricket game, it is slow and tactical but sometimes exciting. Cricket games are 4 hours or longer.

Japanese fireworks are the cricket of fireworks.

Fireworks in the UK are a 5-10 minute explosion of colour and excitement. Music is often played to accompany them. Fireworks in Japan are slow, with lots of breaks between flutters of light and sound. Also, the fireworks are huge in Japan. Some of them explode and you feel the sound hit your whole body. You really feel it in your chest.

Fireworks in Japan are great but you sit and watch and chat with family and friends for an hour or longer. In the UK, you watch the fireworks in silence and leave after 5-10 minutes. They are the same but the way we enjoy them is different.

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tactical: 戦術的

Japanese fireworks are the cricket of fireworks: 日本の花火は花火界のクリケット

between flutters of light and sound: 光と音の揺らめきの間に

huge: 巨大な

in silence: 静寂の中で