By KAZUHIRO ITAMI/ Staff Writer
August 3, 2020 at 16:49 JST
NAGAOKA, Niigata Prefecture--Four fireworks lit up the night sky here Aug. 2 to mark the 75th anniversary of a U.S. bombing raid on the city during World War II and to pray that the COVID-19 pandemic will be brought under control.
Nagaoka’s fireworks festival, one of Japan’s three major fireworks events, is held annually to commemorate the 1,488 people killed in the Aug. 1, 1945, bombing of the city, and to renew the city's commitment to rebuild.
The novel coronavirus forced the festival, scheduled for Aug. 2 this year, to be canceled for the first time since World War II ended.
But the event's organizer, the Nagaoka Fireworks Foundation, decided to go ahead with a drastically scaled back version of the event so that victims would still be honored.
Three pyrotechnics were set off to commemorate those killed in the bombing and to pray for peace and one to mourn people who have died from the coronavirus and to wish for an early end to the pandemic.
“Nagaoka’s fireworks display has become more like a celebration every year, diluting the remembrance of the dead,” said Tomi Kaneko, 86, who lost her father and sister in the U.S. attack.
“But the fireworks were unexpectedly set off in quite a (solemn) manner this year, so more people may have thought about what happened 75 years ago,” she added.
The fireworks that were shot off had shells measuring 30 or so centimeters in diameter. After they went up, local residents lit their own small fireworks in front of their homes to take part in the tribute. The event will also be held on Aug. 3.
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Four fireworks light up the sky along the banks of Shinanogawa river in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, on Aug. 2, the date for the canceled annual local fireworks festival, to commemorate people killed in the 1945 U.S. bombing on the city and hope for an early end to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Kazuhiro Itami)
