This is a story about when I was five years old. My father's
hometown is Nagaoka in Nigata-ken. There is a river in Nagaoka
which is the longest river in Japan, and there is a fireworks
display every summer in the dry riverbed. The fireworks display
is the biggest in Japan.
When I was five years old, I went to Nagaoka with my family.
We went to the fireworks display wearing yukata. Because
a yukata is a Japanese thing, Japanese women especially
want to wear them in the summer. In my childhood my grandmother
sewed mine. At that time, my favorite was navy blue; the pattern
was of sunflowers and the color of the obi was red. I liked to
wear my yukata, but actually I didn't want to go to the
fireworks display. We went to the river and lay on a carpet made
of straw.
Finally the fireworks began. They made loud noises, and large
rockets were shot off one after another. Because the noise was so
loud, I couldn't talk with people around me any longer. All of
the people lifted their eyes, and they opened their mouths wide,
and they raised their voices, "Oh!!!" There were many kinds of
fireworks. For example, there were not only many colors (red,
blue, yellow), but there were also many patterns. I thought
especially rare examples were "UFO" and "Sunflower." The
fireworks looked attractive against the black sky. I thought,
"Oh, beautiful!!" But all that changed in a moment.
The fireworks which spread widely in the night sky fell down
on me. Suddenly I began to cry loudly.
"Mama, the fireworks are failing down on me, I'm afraid!!"
At first my family said, "You are crazy!" But
because I continued to cry madly, we all went back home.
What a surprising thing--despite coming all the way to Nagaoko
from Tokyo, I hid in the closet for fear. After awhile, I
recovered my presence of mind and watched the final fireworks in
the distance through the window. It was very beautiful. The final
fireworks were set off alongside a long bridge, and it looked
like Niagara Falls. When I looked back at this scene later I
thought I had given everyone a lot of trouble.
Now I often go there, and I like to see the fireworks display
very much. And now, when my family goes to the fireworks, my
family says to me, "Should we go back home?" Then we all laugh at
me.
by Minako Sakurai
