Tokyo Bay, Ralphing, and Fireworks

During the summer Japan has a lot of festivals (matsuri). They are in celebration of the summer, or the harvest, or the dead, or ancient star-crossed lovers...the list goes on and on and so does the celebrating. These matsuri are a lot like the 4th of July in America, except, of course, Japan-style. There's picnicking, parades, street food (octopus balls and chicken cartilage are some of the crowd favorites), and most importantly FIREWORKS. Japan is the master of the fireworks show. You have not seen fireworks until you have watched an hour and a half long fireworks presentation above the Tokyo skyline.

Last time we were in Japan, we watched the most famous fireworks show in Tokyo at the Sumidagawa River. Although it was simply awe-inspiring, we could not force ourselves to brave the heat and the crowds (upwards of 1million people) to make it again this time. So, we settled for watching local firework shows from our apartment's balcony—that is, until the Odaiba Fireworks Festival over Tokyo Bay.

A few days before the festival, Jonathan received an email from a lawyer we kept hearing about, but never had a chance to meet. He went to the same undergrad and law school and is well known among Tokyo attorneys as both an outstanding lawyer and an avid sailor. Yes, that's right, sailor, as in sailboating. Jonathan had been slipping in words here and there about this guy to his friends, hoping that somehow we might meet him and by some stroke of luck be invited to sail with him on his boat. As often happens, lady luck did visit us, and in this email we were invited to enjoy front row seats to watch the Odaiba fireworks from the middle of Tokyo Bay in a sailboat.

Now, I don't know if you have ever been on a sailboat in the ocean, but I can tell you it's not exactly the romantic experience you might imagine it to be, at least not when the waters are rough. First of all, sailing is a lot of work. There are hundreds of ropes to pull and adjust, and you can't do it from just one place on the boat, you have to run around front to back, side to side, trying to stay balanced while the boat rocks and the sail billows. I, of course, did not perform any of this work, but I watched as others did, and it looked downright stressful. Then there is the rocking. I've been on boats before, but I have never experienced the total body jolting, back and forth rocking that I experienced in this sailboat. I was told that this rocking was magnified by the wake of thousands of other boats that were also making their way into the bay. The email suggested that we take seasickness pills before we got on the boat, but I laughed it off as a thing for sissies. Seasickness, I thought, was for the weak of heart. I, however, (I imagined) am an adventurous, hearty, sea-faring lass. There was no need for such things as seasickness pills.

About 30 minutes into it I was ralphing over the side of the boat. I did not stop spewing for the next 2 hours. When the first eruption came, I was applauded by another male guest who exclaimed, "Someone popped the cork on the champagne!" He then laughed and told his girlfriend to get a camera. They like to record these sorts of things apparently. Then there was the sweet, drunk Japanese girl who rubbed my back and kept offering me gum. I finally took a piece to be nice/to get her to stop, but as soon as I put it in my mouth...well, you know what happened. Jonathan didn't notice my "situation" until Judd from Georgia, the sweet, drunk girl's boyfriend pointed at me and said, "I think your wife is barfing over there..." Jonathan only came over momentarily; barfing is kind of a one-man show.

I was later informed that there are three stages of seasickness: 1. You think you are going to die. 2. You want to die. 3. You die. Ehhh.....

Once we arrived at our destination, I could feel my body reset and begin to recover. We enjoyed the fireworks and ate junk food. Well, I didn't eat junk food, but I watched and enjoyed as others did. The fireworks were spectacular. And although I dreaded the two and a half hour trip back to the harbor, I was able to avoid the humiliation of hanging over the back of the boat. In fact, it was a rather nice return trip under the stars of the Tokyo night sky.

Jonathan is a natural born sailor.

In between dry-heaves.

Rainbow Bridge

Watch this Video of my favorite fireworks: