The Luminarie

On Tuesday night a few of us gathered in Paiyama with the intention of seeing a light-based festival of sorts dedicated to those who died in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe. Whilst waiting in Paiyama, we were approached by a half Italian, half Japanese, English speaking drunkard. After many incorrect accusations by him about us, he noticed my friend was smoking. He grabbed it, still lit, exclaiming he hadn't had a cigarette all day. He promptly put it in his mouth, and ate it. The whole cigarette, whilst lit. After about 5 minutes of stunned silence we moved on to the lights.


After being herded through the streets of Kobe on approach to the lights, we arrived at a long main road, closed off from traffic, and flanked with magnificent illuminated arches.


At the end of the road there was a clearing where a large cathedral like structure stood with the main shrine in the middle. There were literally thousands and thousands of Japanese in attendance, so after paying our respects, we moved on.


The night then inevitabley got alot less cultural after Basim and I met up with Ducan, who is also from Cardiff but studying in nearby Kyoto, in Sannomiya. Before long it was 3am and I was talking to 3 ex-Yakuza fisherman in a Jamaican themed bar. I only had 2 beers all night so the experience whilst sober was border-line scary. The only thing that surprised me though was the fact I was surprised by the nights random events.