Okazaki Fireworks Festival

On the first weekend of August, Okazaki hosted a very big fireworks festival. The river was lined with people hoping the catch a look at the big show. Some people even paid upwards of $100 to reserve seats along the river to get a close up look at the show. During summer festivals it's common for women and men, young and old, to dress in yukatas, the light summer kimono. So I decided that I would try it too and luckily I was joined by some friends. There is no way I could have dressed myself properly in the yukata without the help of a Japanese person who knew what they were doing. Folding it and making sure it lay properly was harder than I thought and tying the obi, the sash around the waist, also looked harder to do than I imagined.
Once we were dressed we went to the health club where myself and some other friends are members and we watched the fireworks show from the roof where there was a party being hosted. It was a great view until it started to rain. We had to retreat a bit but we were still able to see the show. I ran into one of my students at the club and he looked surprised to see me dressed in the yukata. It was funny.
It was a fun night and I'm really glad that I wore the yukata, but it was such a nice feeling taking it off at the end the night!