The Spectacular Toride Tone River Fireworks Festival

This time, I am reporting from Toride City, Ibaraki Prefecture, following up on my previous visit. I came here because a fireworks festival is being held in this city, which is the closest part of Ibaraki to Tokyo. I went to take photos of the increased service on the Kanto Railway Joso Line beforehand, so please check that out if you are interested. They make full use of the rare non-electrified double-track facilities in Japan, with diesel trains running one after another at 5-minute intervals.

The multi-tenant buildings in front of the station (which apparently used to house a Seiyu store before it relocated) have been cleared away, and the view has become much more open. The rotary has been beautifully renovated, and a spacious bus terminal with a roof has been built. It seems the completion of the redevelopment is finally in sight. Let's take a quick stroll around.

It takes about 20 minutes on foot from JR Joban Line's Toride Station to the fireworks venue. If you have a paid seat, you can watch from a location about 5 minutes from the station, but since I didn't pay for one, I'll walk to the free seating area. It starts around 7:00 PM. With 10,000 fireworks being launched, it's quite a significant number for a city of 100,000 people on the edge of the Tokyo commuter belt.

A drone show was also held before the start, during the intermission, and near the end of the fireworks festival, which was also a big hit. For more details, please check this article. Now, let's move on to the main fireworks event.

Entering the second half from here, the Toride Fireworks Festival picks up momentum all at once. I came here about eight years ago aiming to catch the extra Joso Line trains, but at that time, I had the impression that they were just filling time by firing rapidly for a minute and then having three minutes of silence.

However, in recent years, because a 15-minute drone show has been inserted, the break time between segments has become shorter, and I think it has become a much denser and tighter fireworks festival. The satisfaction level was already quite high even in the first half, but the amazing part started from here.

　As heartfelt cheers erupted from the students around me, this year's Toride Fireworks Festival came to a successful close. The level of perfection was clearly higher than when I last saw it. I was surprised that even a small suburban city could put on such a polished show.

　That is all for this time. I look forward to your likes, comments, and shares. If you would like to continue reading my work, I recommend following or bookmarking. I have also opened a Twitter account (@tonarino_note). Tips are also appreciated.