Firefly Festival in Tatsuno

Last night I went with Brendan, Phil, and Phil's wife Yukiko to the firefly festival. We drove about 35 minutes to the small town of Tatsuno. We had to park pretty far away because the closer lots were full (and you had to pay).

After walking for about ten minutes, we came to the main festival street. It was FILLED with people and along the sides were dozens of food stands, selling everything from chocolate bananas to kebabs. The colorful streamers, lanterns, and people dressed in yukata (summer kimono) made it very atmospheric! Everything smelled so good, I couldn't decide what to get. Eventually I decided on a katsu (pork cutlet) burger. It was really tasty! We kept walking, slowly with the large crowd, until we reached Tatsuno train station. There was some kind of band competition going on there. We briefly stopped to check it out, but by that point it was mostly dark, and we wanted to get to the firefly park before it was too late.

You have to buy a ticket to get into the park. It's only 300 yen, though. I bought my ticket at the little machine and when I turned around, there was one of my students waving at me! Her name is Sakura, she's twelve, and is planning a homestay in Utah at some point (next year maybe?). She was there with her family which was quite big for Japan, two little sisters and an older brother. It was really nice to see a student outside of school, haha. :)

It was about a ten minute walk further to the firefly park from the ticket machines. It was a narrow street, maybe four people wide, surrounded by rice paddies and illuminated with small yellow lanterns hanging from the telephone wires. It really felt like being out in the country!

When we got the firefly park, everything was very dark- nearly pitch-black. We followed the crowds to a wooden railing and there they were, hundreds of tiny white dots, flashing almost in unison! It nearly took my breath away. As my eyes grew used to the dark, I could see that the fireflies were flying around a kind of field with water running through it in a pattern. I think they probably designed the park specifically for the fireflies. There was a path leading further up so we explored and discovered that the higher vantage points were even better! So many dancing dots of light. :) Some fireflies even flew kind of near us, and if you looked up, there were a few dancing in the trees. I kept hearing people saying "sugoi" and "kirei" which are like the equivalent of saying "Amazing!" and "Beautiful!" or "So pretty!"

On the way back to the car, we stopped briefly at a small temple that is apparently where the firefly festival originated. We lit candles and some guy I guess prays over them the next day or something. I don't care so much about that part, but it was really funny that the guys at the temple were super excited to see foreigners. XD

Well, it was a really busy weekend, and I have today off to rest thankfully. Back to the old grindstone tomorrow! Next weekend is a frog festival in Matsumoto... Maybe that will be my next adventure. ;)

Walking down the street towards the firefly park

Brendan's favorite kind of festival food

Food vendors lining the streets

Getting closer to the fireflies

If you look at this picture without many lights on, you can make out some small little dots of light towards the middle/lower left.

The closest I got to getting a good picture, lol.

An illumination shaped like a firefly on the side of a mountain!