August 15, 2023: Fireworks Festivals （花火大会）

It is now at the height of the fireworks season. A lot of the festivals are taking place all over Japan. In particular, the Tokyo area is now very busy with them. One or more of them always take place every weekend somewhere in the area. In addition, they have got bigger and more spectacular as time goes on. They are held as if the organisers were competing with each other. A few weeks ago, Tokyo saw two big festivals take place. They took place around the Sumida and Arakawa Rivers and attracted 1.6 million spectators.
My town is no exception, either. It is now preparing to have a fireworks festival. Usually, it is held in the latter part of August. So I expected it to take place around that time but did not. It will take place in October. I do not know why October. One of the reasons could be an event to be held in a nearby town. The town has the Awa Dancing Festival every year. It is so popular as to attract at least 700 thousand spectators every year. Probably, my town tried to hold its festival on the same day as the one. But it must have been strongly opposed by JR. JR must have been worried about having both on the same day. If they were held on the same day, JR must have been afraid that their stations could be very crowded and their trains would be overwhelmed. So my town was forced to give up having the festival in August and to have it in October.
Unfortunately, the fireworks festival in my town is not as attractive as the one in the nearby town.

　花火大会が全国で真っ盛りです。特に、東京周辺は大賑わいです。その周辺では、毎週末、どこかで開催されています。更に、大会も年々規模が盛大になっています。主催者が争って、大会を争って開催しているように見えます。数週間前、東京では隅田川と荒川周辺で大きな花火大会が開催され、合計で160万人の人が集まったそうです。
　ボクの街も例外ではありません。今、花火大会の準備をしています。例年通り、8月後半に行われると思っていたのですが、違いました。なんと、10月開催なのです。正確な理由はわかりませんが、隣町で開催されるインベントの影響かもしれません。阿波おどりの大会で毎年開催ｓれています。これが人気で、毎年70万人を集めるほどです。多分、ボクの街が、この大会と同日に花火大会を開催しようとして、JRに反対されたのだと思います。JRは両方を同日に開催するのを懸念したのでしょう。同日に開催すると、駅が大混雑し、電車もキャパオーバーになることを恐れたのだと思います。そのため、ボクの街は、8月開催をあきらめ、10月開催にしたのだと思います。
　残念ながら、ボクの街の花火大会には、隣町のインベントほどの魅力がありません。