Fireworks, Cliffs, and Ghosts - Oh My!

I spent Saturday in the lovely village of Mikuni, one of the four small towns that make up the bustling metropolis that is Sakai City. Mikuni is a charming place. It's situated right on the Sea of Japan, has a cute little beach, and is home to an annual fireworks festival, billed as one of the biggest in the region.

And it's haunted. But more on that later.

We started the day at the Cliffs of Tojimbo, Japan's equivalent to Ireland's Cliffs of Moor. These jagged peaks stretch out into the Sea of Japan and are quite picturesque. Our group scaled down the cliffs and stuck our feet into the sea - it was a nice break from Japan's humid August weather.

We then ventured out to Oshima, an island located just a few miles away from the cliffs. The island is home to a Shinto shrine, a cool pine forest, and great views of the sea.

But while it's pretty during the day, this area has a somewhat ominous feel at night. Sadly, the cliffs are a popular place to commit suicide - and many people that choose to jump are young students who have failed their college entrance exams. A strange tide causes bodies to wash up on Oshima's shores. Some say that the shrine pulls the bodies towards it. There have been reports of ghosts walking the island at night.

Pushing the ghost stories out of our head, we trekked back up to the beach and settled in for the fireworks show - a full 90 minutes of some of the most amazing fireworks I've ever seen. A team of tugboats crisscrossed Mikuni's harbor, dropping fireworks directly in the water. Moments later, the fireworks would explode right up from the sea. You didn't just see the show, you felt it!

After enjoying the fireworks (and a few beers), we decided it was time to go on a ghosthunt. Armed with the light from our cell phones, we headed back to the island, and stumbled back around the trail to the shrine.

We waited. We took pictures. No ghosts.

We continued along the path to the back of the island, where a clearing in the forest allowed room for a lighthouse - and opportunities for killer stargazing.

We waited. We took pictures. No ghosts.

So my Tojimbo adventure resulted in a dead cell phone, several hundred new bug bites, and a mild hangover the next morning. No ghosts, but a great story to tell!