August is the time for fireworks in Japan. Almost all cities across Japan will pick a night for their fireworks festival. There might be a few other events, and there certainly will be plenty of street food and beer, but the main event will be the fireworks.

Okazaki, a medium sized city in Aichi Prefecture, is said to have some of the best fireworks in Japan. You may think this just hometown pride speaking, but there is more to it than that.

^{I can't seem to get my copy of Lightroom to open today. Hmm... So here is a copy of a more experimental photo I've posted in the past from one of the previous Okazaki fireworks festivals.}

The founder of the family that ruler Japan for 250 years, the Tokugawa clan, was born in Okazaki. As such, he often favored the area in some of his laws and rulings. One of these was that he gave the immediate area around Okazaki (Mikawa province) the exclusive right to produce fireworks and gun power. For 250 years, this was the only area allowed to work with these materials in Japan. You can imagine the result of this, with all the craft development in this area. Even today, 70% of all Japan's fireworks come from the Mikawa area.

Thus the fireworks festival in Okazaki is one of the more famous ones in Japan and sees tourists from all over the country. It is always super busy!

I attended as I do every year (except for the last two, which were canceled due to COVID). I didn't take as many photos as I usually do, but just allowed myself to enjoy with my family.

I was going to try uploading this video to 3speak, but it is down. As much as I love the idea of a decentralized video platform, that sight just never seems to be working very well... Anyway, Odysee to the rescue. It uploaded quickly and easily there. Here you go:

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.

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