Golden Week 2009
Despite swine flu being all over the TV and the newspapers huge numbers[ja] of
people flooded into Hiroshima Prefecture to exchange air in crowded places over the Golden Week holiday. It may have helped that two cases of suspected
swine flu were kept under wraps[ja], to avoid panic (and perhaps the wrath of
local business). It was announced after everyone was back at work that
PCR tests determined that neither case was the H1N1 virus.
 This year the Mazda Stadium hosted 8 home games over the Golden Week period,
up from 3 at Shimin Kyujyou last year and pulled in 3 times the number of people with 236,000 baseball fans packing the new stadium. Attendance at
the 3 day Flower Festival in Hiroshima city hit over 1.6 million, although final day attendance was slightly down due to the heavy rain. I
tweeted my annual frustration with the Flower Festival in general, and the
Yosakoi parade in particular. Sophie's response and Joy's
blog post prove, once again, that these things are a
matter of opinion. I think I may focus to much on what the festival isn't and think about what it could be, while the more open-minded just get on
with enjoying what it is.
The down side of the large numbers of people on the move was a 30% increase in cars pumping out exhaust fumes on local highways and a 5% drop in the
numbers of people using the Shinkansen attributed to the campaign promoting the use of the ETC toll system. There were also
almost double the number of traffic accidents[ja] in the Chugoku area, up to
233 compared 123 last year. Prefectural police say that highway accidents in Hiroshima increased from 76 last year to 117, most of them drivers
rear ending other cars in the increased number of traffic jams.
Not making into the local papers were the many parties that got going each night well after the costumed dancers and yaki-soba sellers
were tucked up in bed each night. Below are some pictures from the annual DIY no holds (or gardening equipment) barred Dove Pro Wrestling
Night at Chinatown and there are some pics here from the dressed up
Towa Tei night at Suiren.
Whatever you got up to we hope you had a blast and didn't find the return to the 9-to-whatever too rough.
Paul Walsh
May 2009
| 
Similar Articles
