Saga International Balloon Festival Review

Overall 5.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

Rainmaker
Marietta, GA

One of the Best

Wanderer, travel for hot-air ballooning, Love Japan

Pros

Cool Happening, Beautiful setting, Food and Fairway Shopping

JAN

2008

Saga International Balloon Festival —

Saga International Balloon Festival is held in Saga, a port city on the north end of Kyushu, one of the 4 main islands of Japan where just over a hundred balloons from around the world fly. The festival has been going for more than 30 years. My review of another festival, Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, was written from an insider's view because it is so easy and fun to become an insider at Albuquerque. All you need to do is volunteer to crew, watch the safety video and you're in. This festival has some similarities, but it would be much harder for an international visitor to actually participate as a crew person here. So, I'll start with what you would experience as an outsider first and then wrap up with a little of my own personal experience for those who are interested.

Festivities begin with a parade down main street in the evening before opening day. Participants include boy and girl scouts, balloonists, and all kinds of other supporters. Street vendors are readily available with all of those things that street vendors sell at fairs and other outdoor events.

The main launch field is on the banks of the Kase River and the grand stand is built into the levee with a wonderful balloon mosaic. Using land that is subject to flood as a park and building the stands into a required functional feature is great urban land use that makes the most of everything. I love the smart planning, and though this is an older technique, it is catching on in more places. The JR train brings spectators directly to an uncovered stop that only operates during the event.

Flights happen in morning and evening. Like many festivals, viewing reliability and spectacular effect are best for morning flights. This is because morning flight will have calmer winds and they will often take off from a common launch point at the field. Everyone will take off within a few minutes of each other, making the sky more dense with balloons. Spectators can watch set up and inflation. There will be a lot of balloons in the air at the same time.

Afternoon flights will more often be "fly-ins". The balloons will go to a place down wind and navigate back to a target on the field. For this type of flight, there will be a sparser concentration of balloons at the field that lasts for a longer period of time as the balloons gradually move toward the target. Sometimes afternoon winds can cause flight to be canceled, so afternoons can be less reliable, but evening is when the fiesta balloons (many are special shapes) will inflate for a show and stay for a glow. Coming for the afternoon, visiting the fairway and remaining for the glow is quite popular. Sometimes there will be a glow when the afternoon balloons do not fly. Fiesta balloons are not competing, they are there for crowd pleasers. Because they will not leave the ground, sometimes fiesta balloons can safely inflate when actual flights are canceled.

The fairway is somewhere between a state fair and street festival. Food is a major attraction. There are vendors selling a mix of Asian foods. Pastries filled with octopus are baked in cast iron pans. Roasted corn is dipped in soy sauce. Ice cream from vanilla to green tea flavor. grilled foods and noodles are also available. Seafood is a popular staple in Japan, especially in Saga. There are also souvenirs and balloon collectibles for sale. Honda had a booth selling Asimo collectibles. There are several large tents filled with fruit, produce, crafts, arts and other things.

We participated in the parade and had great fun handing out candy and stickers to children. I was there with a girl scout troop leader. We connected with some Japanese troop leaders and set up pen pals or them. This was not the first time I had participated in international ballooning, but it was the first time I got in the air while doing so. Few pilots take passengers when there is a competition involved, but I lucked out and was assigned to one who does. It is also rare to fly near large bodies of water. You can only do that when winds will reliably take you to a landing spot on firm ground. This was one of those occasions. We launched near the mouth of the river. After launch I looked behind me to see the mouth of the river opening up to the Sea of Japan, a pretty awesome view! On landing we were surrounded by friendly families. The children climbed on the basket and their parents brought out food for us. I think it was probably tofu, but tasty what ever it was. In a community where the festival has been on going for more than three decades, still the people are very welcoming and proud of the international nature of the event. That is one of the nicest features of this festival and I recommend it to those who have the chance to go.

NOTE: the reviewer indicated that they are affiliated with Saga International Balloon Festival

Last edited on Jan 29, 2008