30th Chofu Fireworks Festival (第30回調布市花火大会)

Summer is hanabi (花火), or fireworks, season, but for those who cannot enjoy one because of the large crowd during summer, Chofu City in Tokyo holds their fireworks festival (花火大会) during October. This year, it was October 20.

Unlike the more famous Adachi Fireworks Festival (足立の花火) where viewing anywhere is free, the Chofu festival offers paid seats for the best view, with the most expensive ticket pegged at 20,000円, while the cheapest cost 2,500円. We were supposed to go to the Adachi festival, but for some reason, we couldn't. We wanted to go there because according to this website, it's the best hanabi in Kanto area (関東), but the Chofu hanabi is at third, so it's a good alternative.

The festival was scheduled from 17:50 to 19:00, but because we just planned to watch from the free areas beside the premium ones, we had to go early to reserve a decent place. Viewers can use either of the three nearest train stations to get to the event - Chofu station (調布駅), Fuda station (布田駅) and Kokuryo station (国領駅) of the Keio Line (京王線). After arriving at Kokuryo station, we walked for about 25 minutes towards Tama river (多摩川). It was 4:00PM and there were already a lot of people.

While waiting, I checked out the different food stalls at the corner. The longest queues were for Takoyaki (たこ焼き), Yakisoba (焼きそば), and Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き). Other shops sold banana-choco, buttered potato, skewered beef and corn. I didn't get all the prices, but from what I remember, Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki was 500円 each, while banana-choco was sold at 200円. We lined-up for the corn, which was 400円 per cob, but it was a disappointment. It was like it was boiled a couple of days before and grilled on that day. Some of us were also supposed to try the other shops, but it was almost the start of the show and we had to go back to our place. Overall, it was a pleasant experience. The location was quite far from the train stations, but the crowd was well managed - no pushing and shoving just to get a nice view. For next year, I'd like to go to the Adachi festival, but if I still can't, we'll probably come back to this one.