I went to the Takegashima Shrine Festival! |「海陽で行ってみた！」竹ヶ島神社祭り編
Hello it’s Tony!
こんにちは！トニーだよー
On the 22nd of May, Global Kaiyo Team members Gwenafaye, Sarah and I checked out the Takegashima festival! Because of some work commitments, we were unable to see the festival in its entirety this year, but we did get to enjoy the festival stalls and the fireworks in the evening!
5月22日、グローバル海陽チームのグウェン、サラ、私で竹ヶ島のお祭りに行ってきたよ！今年は仕事の都合で昼の祭りを見ることはできなかったけど、夜に屋台や花火を楽しむことができたよ！
We got there just before the sun started setting at around 6:30pm, and it wasn’t super packed when we got there. But as the sun set, the people really started to pour in, even more so than last year, I think.
夕方6時半ごろ、まだ明るいうちに着いたんだけど、その時はまだそんなに混んでなかったよ。でも日が沈むと、どんどん人がやってきて、去年よりたくさんの人がいた気がするな。
Like last year, there were a variety of different stalls featuring all sorts of things you often see at Japanese festivals, like the shooting games and goldfish scooping. The goldfish scooping looked really fun, but then I realized I needed a place to keep it!
去年と同じように、射的や金魚すくいなど、日本のお祭りでよく見るいろんな屋台が並んでいたよ。金魚すくいは楽しそうだったけど、「あっ、飼う場所がない！」って気付いて諦めた。。
At last year’s festival I didn’t really try out the food from the stalls, but this time around I made sure to try them. We had fried chicken, cheese dogs with a variety of toppings, and garlic fries - my favorite!
去年のお祭りではあまり食べなかったけど、今回はたくさん食べたよ。唐揚げやいろんなトッピングのチーズドッグ、ガーリックポテトフライもあったけど、ガーリックポテトフライが一番美味しかったよ！
Because of our work, we get to visit many different schools, so a lot of the kids at the festival recognized us. Throughout the festival, we were getting students and finally getting to meet a lot of their parents. We had all sorts of fun banter with them!
いろんな学校に行く機会が多いので、私たちのことを知っている子どもたちがたくさんいたよ。子どもたちの保護者にもついに会うことができて、いろいろ楽しいおしゃべりができたよ！
The fireworks started at 7:30pm, so we grabbed the prime viewing spot by the pier.
花火が7時半に始まるので、その前に港のふちに移動して、特等席を確保したよ。
One of the fireworks went really high up and exploded above our heads, which was a little scary.
一つの花火が私たちの頭上高く上がって爆発したけど、あれはちょっと怖かったなー。
I think I like fireworks that hang around for a really long time, because it can look like it's raining fire, especially when you catch it on camera!
写真に撮ると、火花が長く持続する花火は火の雨みたいで好きなんだ！
Although the burning “finished” sign may mark the end of the Takegashima festival, it is also just the start of festival season here in Kaiyo, with many more coming soon!
燃え尽きた「オワリ」のしかけ花火は、竹ヶ島神社まつりの終わりを示すのかもしれないけど、それは海陽町の祭りシーズンの始まりでもある！