Nagano: Full-scale Lake Suwa Fireworks Festival planned for 1st time in 4 years

The Yomiuri Shimbun

9:50 JST, March 12, 2023

SUWA, Nagano — The Lake Suwa Fireworks Festival, one of Japan’s foremost firework events, will be held on a full-scale basis on Aug. 15 for the first time in four years, planning and management committees agreed in late January. Some spectator seats will be available for a fee.

The festival launches tens of thousands of fireworks on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

The event was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and was held intermittently in 2021 and 2022, launching 500 fireworks for about 10 minutes each day in early August.

The decision was made in response to requests for the festival’s full-fledged revival amid the trend of normalizing socioeconomic activities and was approved at a Jan. 30 meeting.

The meeting was attended by the local chamber of commerce and industry, tourist association and ryokan inn association, as well as the Nagano prefectural government, the police, the fire department and other related parties.

The city will compile a draft outline and budget for the event, taking into account COVID-prevention measures, crowd management, rising prices and labor costs.

The outline will be presented at a planning committee meeting to be held April 11.