The Fourth of July: Japan Style

Just over a week into our time in Iida, we had to take a break from trying to embed ourselves in Japanese society and show off our American pride. The reason? While it may have just been a regular Wednesday in Japan, back home it was the Fourth of July and national pride wouldn't let us take it lying down.

Obviously we had been rather caught up trying to adjust to living with a host family, so admittedly, the holiday had slipped our minds until it was almost too late. Being the guests that we were, no one really had access to a barbecue and private swimming pools were too much of a rarity to have a traditional celebration of America's birthday. We were forced to improvise.

In a compromise, we decided to buy a couple cartloads of food from the supermarket that wasn't your typical holiday fair. Instead of hot dogs and hamburgers, we had some pre-made okonomiyaki and sushi along with some appetizer-esque dishes provided by some generous host families. We were able to load up on our American sodas and the Japan equivalent of some Lay's chips. Those of us that were of age also brought some beers to enjoy.

We had our food problem solved, sort of, but we still needed a location. We were all in favor of swimming, but it would have been rather difficult to celebrate in appropriate fashion at a public swimming pool. However, given the many years our professor, Martin Holman, had been conducting this program, he knew of a place
along the Tenryuu River two train stations before Tenryuukyo station that allowed public access and had a expansive open area for us to have our picnic. It wasn't filled with chlorine, but having some fun in the river was perhaps an even better alternative than a simple swimming pool.

Our biggest obstacle was finding the key part of any Fourth of July celebration - fireworks. Americans as we were, we wanted some big booms to echo in the sky when we launched our hanabi. Sadly, fireworks of that caliber were typically reserved for large festivals and getting them as civilians was too great a task to overcome. We were however able to find a small fireworks kit similar to the cheap bundles you can buy from a Walmart or similar store, but they paled in comparison to what we'd have liked.

Despite the holiday, we begrudgingly agreed to have our normal class Wednesday morning, but Holman-sensei was as excited to get to the river as we were. So after an intentionally brief class, the students met at the station to make our way to the river, while Holman-sensei would meet us there with the food. Because it was the middle of the week, we essentially had the riverbank to ourselves, except for the occasional passerby. (Below are photos of the picnic we managed to get together for our party. Top photo courtesy of Kelly Washatka. Bottom photo by Sean Noble.)

We feasted like kings on our junk food fare and despite the location, we managed to capture a bit of the barbecue feel. We sat around talking and laughing, drank a few good brews and even managed to scrape up a football and frisbee to toss around. In typical macho fashion, we held an impromptu arm-wrestling competition. I can proudly say I bested all my fellow gaijin, gaining undisputed victory in all my strong-arm matches. Not willing to admit defeat, we tried to have a weak-arm competition as well, but even then I scraped out the win. (Below: A fellow student, Jordan, takes on Holman-sensei in our arm-wrestling tournament. Photo courtesy of Kelly Washatka.)

By this time our food had settled somewhat and several of us made our way to the riverside and others found a small field to play ultimate frisbee in. I hadn't had a chance to go swimming since I came to Japan, so I jumped at the chance to get in the water. Armed with swim-shoes and our swimsuits, we found the access point, a large set of concrete steps that led down into the water. We did have to be careful; despite how calm the river looked, we were warned that if you get to far into the current it could very easily sweep you away. (Below are the steps that lead down to the river. The stairs extended further into the water and there as a concrete dock port about 15 feet from the shore. Photo courtesy of Kelly Washatka.)

Myself and a few of my comrades, while wary, decided it would be fun to test the current. After swimming in the shallows and enjoying the water for a bit, we started to venture downriver to see what else we could find. While some of us walked along the bank, my friend Kelly and I decided to ride along with the light current near the edge of the river and navigate along the rocks. We came across this large rock that jutted out of the water a good twenty or thirty feet into the current. For some reason, perhaps our daredevil spirits. We, and by that I mean I, became obsessed with conquering the rock.
(Below are some shots from around the river. The top is the boulder I was set on climbing. Photos courtesy of Kelly Washatka.)

The current moved rather quickly up to the boulder, but its placement and a small peninsula further down created a calmer pool behind the rock. So the challenge was timing the current and jump distance right to be able to ride it safely to the base of the rock. I readily accepted the challenge, but it took a few jumps to get it right. A few times I simply floated safely into the calm pool past the catch point on the rock face. But eventually I caught it right and safely made it to my goal. Once I'd got the process down I to convince a few others to try the jump, but majority declined to participate in our madness. (Top: Shortly after my success, naturally I took my triumphant captain's pose. Bottom: Despite my argument, I could not get Kelly to forge the rapids to the rock. Photos courtesy of Kelly Washatka.)

We played in the river for around two or three hours before we made our way back to our picnic site, exhausted but victorious in conquering the river. By this time, afternoon had turned to evening and dusk was beginning to settle in. Due to host or rental obligations, a few students and Holman-sensei had to leave, but those of us that stayed behind decided we'd try out the fireworks, despite their meager size.

I guess the adage goes "beggars can't be choosers" so having the fireworks we did was a better way to celebrate than nothing at all. The kit we bought had a few packets of sparklers along with some ash coils and a few larger ones similar to roman candles, but with less of a punch. The sparklers brought us back to childhood and we did have fun twirling them through the air and chasing each other with them. The "roman candles" were about as expected and while they didn't have the boom we wanted, they were visually colorful and allowed us to say we truly celebrated.

This was definitely one of my most memorable days while in Japan and while I had countless adventures in store in the coming months, this day always stands out to me when I think back to that summer.

Useful phrase in this week's post:

Hanabi - はなび - 花火

Meaning: Fireworks (kanji lit. meaning "flower" and "fire")