Synopsis

Each year, family members convene to honor the departed during Obon, and Nagasaki's observance is particularly elaborate. Rooted in the Chinese tradition of employing sound to ward off malevolent spirits, visitors launch rockets and firecrackers before the graves. A child might purchase a single firework for a grandmother who nurtured them. A man might spend four hundred thousand yen on fireworks to commemorate his father's passing this year. The ritual unfolds with meticulous adherence to the p