Forrest Brown

I was in Hong Kong for the National Day of the People’s Republic of China a bit over a week ago on Oct 1st and now I’m in Taiwan for Double Ten Day which is the National Day of the Republic of China.

I’m in Hong Kong for 6 days. By accident, it turned out that the day I arrived is the National Day of the People’s Republic of China and was being celebrated in Hong Kong with a fireworks display in Victoria Harbor.

My hotel was a few blocks from the harbor, but I had watched the Chines New Year fireworks from near there last year, so I decided to head to Victoria Peak to see if I could find a good location to watch the fireworks.

Fireworks in Victoria Harbor.

Japan has some amazing summer fireworks festivals. When I first when to one I was shocked at the crazy huge crowds of people going to see them and how big the fireworks display was. In the US, most fireworks displays I’ve seen last less then half and hour. But in Japan an hour to two hours seems to be pretty normal.

One of the bigger festivals is the Tokyo Bay Fireworks. For this festival the fireworks are launched from barges floating in the middle of Tokyo Bay and people pack the edges of the bay and nearby building to watch.

Tokyo Bay Fireworks Festival seen from Odaiba

For the 4th of July I went down to Long Beach to check out the fireworks.