Kobe Fireworks

We knocked out last week in a flash, and now we’re sitting pretty the weekend before our trip.

Friday night I finally won the battle against technology and I’ve got a new server running upstairs.  Smooth, quick and without a hiccup, I am looking forward to reading this post ten years in the future and wondering what I was thinking when I set it up.  Hopefully it lasts ten years.

The Yamaji’s invited us to watch the fireworks in Kobe with them on Saturday night.  Usually things are crazy in Kobe that night – crowds of people, jostling for position, and being sweaty and fighting mosquitoes all night.  Luckily, the Yamajis had a connection to miss a lot of that hassle.

We went to Port Island, and then walked a little ways over to a company called Nichirei.  Their business is cold storage and transport of food products.  There was a four story warehouse there, and on the shaded side the company employees and their families had set up BBQs and pallets to have a dinner party.

We sat down, opened some beers they provided, and enjoyed their hospitality.  They brought over food that they had cooked, including some huge prawns they had grilled, steak, sausages, fried chicken, oden, yakitori, and many others.  The kids were kept busy fishing things out of a small pool that they set up, and they had a contest that was kind of like a pinata, but instead they used a watermelon on the ground.

Although it was a warm day in summer, we were set up in the shade, and that helped a lot.  In addition, we were right outside a huge refrigerated warehouse, so anytime we liked we could step inside where the temperature on the first floor was 10 degrees C (compared to 30 C outside).  In freezer storage it was -10 C, but there was no reason to go in there.  10 C is quite enough to see your breath and cool down quickly.

The company employees sometimes came over to say hello, and Mr. Yamaji had a chance to talk to some of his business contacts, and we were introduced to many people.  Everyone was very friendly and hospitable, and there was a good vibe there.

This is something that the company does every year, and so they’ve got a system going.  Just before the fireworks started they lined us up inside the warehouse.  We filled our pockets with snacks (and drinks) and went up the service elevators to the roof.  There we picked out a spot on top, and we had a spectacular view of Kobe at night.

The fireworks lasted for about an hour, and we enjoyed watching, taking pictures, and just drinking and talking.  It was the perfect place to sit and enjoy the show, and with so few people around, plenty of food and drink – it was a lot of fun.  We’re already planning on coming back next year, if they’ll have us.

There was a huge rush of people leaving Port Island, so we decided to walk over to the Portopia hotel and have some drinks upstairs until the rush passed.  It was nice to sit and talk with the Yamajis in the relaxed air conditioned atmosphere instead of being in the crush of people waiting to catch trains and head home.

In the end we got home on the late side, but with Sunday completely off it was perfectly OK to sleep in a take it easy.  Nice!