Edogawa (江戸川区, Edogawa-ku)

We rode the subway with some of the Japanese temple workers so we could go watch the fireworks together. Here's some of the group walking to the river to watch fireworks with the masses of people through some of Edogawa. They were very nice to us even though we didn't know Japanese and they didn't know English.  Fortunately, Elder Ricks and his wife met up with our group. He served his first mission here, also, so he speaks good Japanese and then we could talk to each other more.

Here are some of us taking a break in a member's home before going on the rest of the way to the fireworks.  The tatami mats are really nice and cool and comfortable.

These mechanical cats are smarter than our mechanical dog at home.  They speak Japanese!  They also meow in Japanese.  I really should get one of these to take home if I only knew where. 

On the way, we also stopped to look at this tree which is 600 years old. For some reason this reminds me of a Bonsai tree that we saw that was really tiny but was 500 years old.

This Buddhist shrine is in the same area.

Elder and Sister Ricks

You know this guy!  So many people keep telling us that he looks like one of our prophets, President Hinckley.  We tell them they should meet his brother, Bob, who looks even more like President Hinckley.

After a pretty good walk we arrived at the river where the people were gathering.  There were 1.4 million people gathered by the river who watched the fireworks. We're wondering how they counted all of us.

Some of the young missionaries and investigators who live and work in this area met up with our group.

There were all kinds of groups and activities going on while we waited.

Here's our group taking off our shoes so we can sit down on the tarp. Taking off shoes is something that we are all very much used to doing.  We even take off our shoes when we go to the dentist's office.

There were people everywhere. This photo was taken looking up at the people on top of the levee and the beautiful clouds.

Here's some of the sister missionaries from this area with some of their investigators. One the sisters was from southwest Las Vegas and the other was from near Redmond, Washington.

Here is a wonderful violinist that was just playing for all of those who wanted to hear.  He was amazing and could play pretty much whatever was requested.  He even had his own recorded accompaniment.  We began to talk to him and he used very good English.  He had spent many years living in England and going to school there so his English was English English.  (Get it?)  He is actually an accountant and he and his friends were there playing guitars and all kinds of instruments while many people were enjoying listening to him. We told him we were missionaries and we gave him some pass along cards about the Church.  We'd like to suggest that you talk with everyone you can wherever you are and carry pass along cards with you as it is a simple way to introduce the gospel to people.

Yes, this investigator is being taught here in this photo.  The missionaries were teaching this young man a discussion about Jesus Christ and His gospel while we were waiting for it to get dark.The missionaries are so wonderful to devote their time and money and effort to teaching whenever they can.  Speaking of teaching, we had two discussions in our apartment last week.  The Elders where we live taught one young man there on Thursday, and the Sisters taught a really golden young woman from Maine in our home on Friday.  Of course, we had dinner for them all each day.  This gets kind of tricky as we have to prepare most of the food the night before because we work in the office all day.  It works out well though as Elder Chandler is a great cook and we do team cooking.

It was finally time for the fireworks which were really spectacular.  We have been spoiled for fireworks as they had 14,000 fireworks which went on for over an hour and fifteen minutes.  They shoot up multiple fireworks constantly. They keep doing what appears to be the finale with tons of fireworks but then it goes on and on to another finale, etc, etc. It is so amazing and you just have had to be there to appreciate it.  We also kept thinking that some of the music that was played with the fireworks just might be The Star Spangled Banner but it never happened, Do you think it might be because we're in Japan and not the USA?  It just kind of felt like the 4th of July for some reason.

My favorites were the hearts and rings and designs and changing colors etc, etc, etc.  Unfortunately, those photos didn't turn out.

But, best of all in the sky, are the creations of our Father in Heaven; the sun and moon and stars and earth.           Good night or good day, everyone!