Fall Events: Saga Balloon Festival

by Josie Losh

Hello, everyone! As much as it may seem that I had dropped off the face of the globe because I have not written a post in ABSOLUTELY ages, here I am! What a slacker blogger. Good thing I'm here for more than a semester, otherwise I would have already missed blogging on the entire term I think! So, fall has passed, and now Kyushu is in the dead of winter. A few flakes of snow even fell today during class. The very first snow I've seen fall in Japan and I was stuck inside a classroom, unsurprisingly!

So, to start off, I haven't recorded anything of fall here in Kyushu! It was a lovely season, I and I think I have the memories and pictures to prove it! Don't worry, I've thrown tons in this post, so much that there's hardly any need for text!

First off: the Saga International Balloon Festival; probably the most-famous event in Saga! Every year, the Kase riverside hosts 800,000 visitors from all over Japan and the world! Balloon-competitors come from all over the world to compete in this specific flying space. Because Saga is a very, very flat area with mountains to the North, it makes for satisfactory balloon-flying (counting on the fact that it doesn't rain).

The ballooners don't race for speed or distance in the various competitions held during the festival. Instead, it's a matter of "accuracy within a limited time," according to the Saga Balloon Festival website. I actually didn't actually see any of these "target" championships myself, I was too much enjoying the colorful balloons spread through the autumn air. The weather wasn't beautiful by any means, but at least the rain held off (thank goodness)...

The burner slowly inflates the envelope of the balloon, and eventually once the volunteers let go of the basket and accompanying ropes, it drifts (quite quickly actually!) into the air and up, up, and away! I wasn't expecting them to move so fast!

Everyone in a flurry to take pictures of the colorful sight.

A cute flowery one. I felt like I should be riding it.

One of the two American balloons. The shape is more oblong than the other balloons.

Cosmos+balloons= great opportunity

I headed out with Fiona, my friend from France, from Saga station at 6:00 in the morning to see the balloons liftoff. That means I got up at 4 something. But, it was SO worth it. 

The Saga Balloon was super cool. Cute colors and our mascot, katchi-kun, a Saga magpie, is the cutest.

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is something Josie just can't pass up... Especially Hello Kitty style, haha. <3

After the regular balloons took off in the direction in the mountains, the special "character" balloons were inflated. And boy, they were cute.

It's a tako! He was my favorite.

Omg, so much delicious okonomiyaki.

All the yummy sauce.

Although I'm sure these guys are geared towards little kids, we college students had just as much fun.

An idea of how crowded it was.

A street in Saga City with beautiful balloon-covered stained-glass.

In addition to ballooning events, the last night hosts La Montgolfier Nocturne, a fancy French term to describe balloons moored to the ground at nighttime and the burners ignited on and off with the rhythm of a live band. It's quite an exciting and beautiful spectacle, not to mention that even from far away, the crowd could feel the rush of warm air from the balloons' burners and oohed and aahed as they were turned on and warmed the cold nighttime air.

The start of the synced music and balloon illumination.

These burners are no joke!!

Since I had no idea there would be fireworks too, I was genuinely surprised when the first one went off!

Japan and the U.S. next to each other in the international flag line up. Yay!

Hope you got a little taste of what a balloon festival is like from my pictures. It really feels like you're on a different planet, looking up at a bazillion colored dots floating around high above you. I tried counting once they all got into the air, and I reached 98 before they disappeared into the fog. My next goal is to ride one!