Sumida River Traditional Summer Fireworks Light Up Sky after 4-yr Wait

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:58 JST, July 30, 2023

The Sumida River Fireworks Festival, a midsummer tradition in Tokyo, was held Saturday for the first time in four years, after the COVID-19 crisis caused it to be canceled.

About 1.04 million people gathered to watch the shooting off of 20,000 pieces of fireworks — the same scale as before COVID-19 — launched over the river between Taito and Sumida wards, according to the organizer. The event was supported by The Yomiuri Shimbun and others.

The spectators cheered and applauded as an array of multicolored fireworks lit up the sky.