Surely illegal in other countries

Last night was the annual Ichikawadaimon Fireworks Festival. I went to it. The train was packed to capacity, and it seemed everyone in the country was there. Lots of women wore kimonos, and lots of women wore very little. The running joke so far has been that many Japanese women could pass for any age between 15 and 35. As I am not so good with numbers yet, this could prove troublesome. I will keep to myself as a precaution.

We had a tarp reserved for us in a great spot, and we took off our shoes to get onto this aforementioned tarp. Since we were sitting on a hill and the tarp's coefficient of friction was below 1 (or is above 1 slippier?), we slid. Removing our respective socks proved to be helpful.

As noted in the headline, it should be illegal to be this close to fireworks. They were going off above our heads. "A Whole New World," "The Circle Of Life," and various other Disney classics soundtracked the explosions. I've seen fireworks, but nothing like this. The artistry, creativity, and sheer ingenuity was astounding. When I finally get the intanetto at home (in a month!), I'll post videos. In between each set of fireworks was a word from the sponsors. I wonder if this would annoy me if I could understand who exactly was sponsoring the festivities.

I ate some teriyaki chicken off sticks (for a fitting festival price of $10) and drank a few Sapporos ($4).

Leaving the festival was even harder than getting there, as thousands of people tried to board the same train at the same time. Despite a long wait, I've never witnessed such an orderly procession. These are the types of situations that only result in rioting, bloodshed, and spilt milk (in other countries). The only glimpse of chaos was a trash can with bottles falling out of it.