The day immediately after Halloween, jack o’lanterns and witches’ hats and brooms were taken off to give way to Christmas trees and decors. It may not be as early as Christmas in Philippines and you may not hear Christmas carols as often, still, this year’s Christmas decors are up early compared to how I remember my previous Christmases here in Japan. Indeed, they are such a joy to behold! 🙂
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hanabi, or the Fireworks Display is one anticipated event here in Japan. Yes sure we’ve all seen fireworks every now and then. But there’s nothing quite like the Japanese Hanabi – especially if you consider that these continuous pyrotechnic lasts an hour at the least, with some lasting for two full hours! And it’s not just the length mind you, the organizers go to lengths as to provide displays that can just make you smile real wide like a kid even when you’ve been to countless hanabi in the summer, every summer.
This year though, the hanabi has been more a treat as compared to the previous years. A lot of the usual hanabi events had been called off this year, both as sign of mourning over the March 11 disaster and as cost-cutting as well. But of course, there’s still reason to rejoice and probably it’s because of that that the major Hanabi in certain cities still pushed through.
Yokohama’s hanabi was held this evening. This actually was our (mine and hubby’s) first hanabi together as husband and wife. And so we spent it watching together at the 34th floor of our office where we currently are billeted (pretty ironic yes, that even when our building has 36 floors or so, we happen to be assigned on the same floor though maybe not for long since he’ll be moving to another floor next month for another project). And yes, we were working overtime.
Here’s some of the pictures I’ve taken. Totally unedited (still trying to get to know our new gadget).
There just are times when you unexpectedly walk into something beautiful.
The first thing we saw when we entered Isezaki Mall in Kannai were two huge blocks of ice facing each other across the street, both positioned upright unlike the one below. This one’s a bit melted already since I took it much later so yeah, the blocks of ice were initially really big.
A few steps farther, we saw this. What with the midsummer heat scorching us, I sort of envy the flowers. But husband pointed out I wouldn’t be able to move. Yeah. Right.
A few steps farther and we discovered there were several big blocks of ice spread out on the street mall. We did some purchases (more books for Atsushi and wooden clips for me for a wedding e-group friend) and when we went out the shopping store, we saw that each big block of ice was already manned; each person manning the ice blocks were already busy chiselling ice, with sharp-looking tools right beside them.
She’s the only woman among the 21 sculptors but she’s handling the big ice saw (?) quite efficiently.
Was sitting just right in front of her hence it was colder in the area near my seat; the chipped-off ice released its cold as it took in heat.
An ice sculpture in progress.
Turned out it was a couple of dolphins. Featuring Atsushi.
A mermaid.
A cockfight. We saw this much later and hence was probably already past its glory as we can’t make out the two cocks fighting anymore. The other sculptors were luckier they had a tree nearby to protect their work. No tree for this one though.
I found this one beautiful.
It was called, in Japanese, “Something to be Protected”. This beautiful bird’s eggs are indeed something to be protected.
Apparently, it was a contest. These two men were among a number of people walking around with checkboards with them, marking their grades for each sculptor on a sheet of paper.
A Kanagawa Ice Sculpture Committee member tallying scores.
Trophies!
Hubby with the trophies.
A woman committee member was writing the participant sculptors’ certificates, shodo-style. Shodo is the Japanese calligraphy or the traditional artistic writing of the Japanese characters. Her penmanship is beautiful and amazing. Such control!
We didn’t wait for the official tally results to be announced but based on the initial results, the winner was “Tama, abunai!” which literally means “cat, dangerous!”.
A photo with the winning sculpture.
The ice sculptors were amazing, making something artistic and beautiful out of something that would just eventually melt. And they have to race with time and the sweltering heat which threatens to melt their masterpiece no sooner than they were finished.
Witnessing the ice sculpture festival reminds me of a loooong-time dream to witness the Snow Festival in Hokkaido. Hopefully someday.