THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 2, 2020 at 17:16 JST
Dazzling fireworks popped, banged and crackled across the nation in a surprise display that filled the sky with spectacular lights and colors at 8 p.m. on June 1.
Young firework professionals planned the coordinated pyrotechnics to send people a message of hope and to cheer them up from struggling with the novel coronavirus crisis.
In Akita Prefecture, blue and rainbow-colored fireworks lit up the banks of the Omonogawa river and shimmered over other places to cheer on medical workers and brighten residents’ spirits.
In Tokyo, fireworks painted the night sky with splashes of bright colors, glistening above the riverside area of the Tamagawa river in Chofu city and elsewhere.
The locations of the fireworks displays were not disclosed in advance to avoid large crowds of spectators gathering.
More than 160 groups of technicians put on simultaneous fireworks displays at about 200 locations all over Japan, according to event organizers.
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
A total of 170 fireworks lit up the night sky at Daisen, Akita Prefecture, which is famous for its “Omagari Hanabi (fireworks),” to cheer up medical workers and others at 8:01 p.m. on June 1. (The photo is a montage of 6 images.) (Shigetaka Kodama)
