Top 5 Tokyo Summer Fireworks 東京の花火
Odaiba under fire
Flick/Manish Prabhune
Tokyo under thousand lights
Fireworks and summer are synonymous in Japan! Discover five of the Japanese capital's top fireworks if you visit the capital in July and August!
1. Sumida River Fireworks
With its 22,000 rockets and one million annual visitors, the Sumida River Fireworks is undoubtedly the most popular in Kanto.
Organized for the first time in 1733, it is also the oldest in Japan!
Fired initially to bring good luck to the city and ward off plagues that could attack Edo (former name of Tokyo), the Sumida fireworks display has gradually lost popularity.
It was only in the 1970s that it regained its luster before becoming the annual tradition we know today.
See also: The Sumida Festival
Every year, the last weekend of July, is held the gigantic fireworks of the festival of Sumida.
DR
From now on, it is an unmissable event for the last weekend of July! And the rockets exploding next to the Tokyo Skytree make it one of the most spectacular of the summer.
Useful information
Date: last weekend of July, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.
Address: on the banks of the Sumida River, Asakusa
Access: Asakusa stations (Tobu, Tokyo Metro, Toei, or Tsukuba lines), Tokyo Skytree (Tobu line), Honjo Azumabashi (Tokyo Metro) or Oshiage (Keisei, Toei, Tobu, and Tokyo Metro lines)
2. Edogawa Fireworks
Every first Saturday of August, the Edogawa district organizes a fireworks display of more than 14,000 rockets along the Edogawa River. Ninety minutes of the show attracts more than 450,000 visitors each year.
See also: Edogawa and Ichikawa fireworks.
Useful information
Date: first Saturday in August, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Address: on the banks of the Edogawa River, Edogawa-ku
Access: Edogawa Station (Keisei Line) or 15 min walk from JR Ichikawa Station (Chobu-sobu Line)
Edogawa fireworks
Flick/ysn0706
3. Adachi Fireworks
With more than 14,000 rockets fired near the Arakawa River, the Adachi district fireworks display is the most extensive in the northern capital.
Drawn every year on the third weekend of July, it is also the first fire of the summer, making it one of the most popular in the capital, with nearly 2 million visitors each year!
If you plan to attend, it is better to leave an hour and a half in advance to ensure a place!
See also: The ten fireworks not to be missed during the summer.
Adachi Fireworks
Flick/ Marufish
Useful information
Date: third weekend of July, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Address: on the banks of the Arawaka River, Senjuokawa-cho, Adachi-ku
Access: 15 min on foot from Kita-senju station (Jodan lines, Tokyo Metro Hibiya, Tokyo Metro Chiyoda)
4. Itabashi's Fireworks
Held on the first weekend of August near Nishidai Station, the Itabashi district fireworks display attracts more than 500,000 people each year. The reason? It is one of the most elaborate lights in the capital!
Flowers, mountains, geometric shapes, and even Pokemon, the 12,000 fired rockets can take on very original forms when they explode in the Tokyo sky. Like "Niagara Falls," a 700 m long trail of colors; that has made Itabashi's fire famous for years!
Useful information
Date: first weekend in August, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.
Address: 3-20 Funado, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo
Access: 20 min on foot from Nishidai station (Mita line)
Itabashi Fireworks
Flick/Nori.NAKAYAMA
5. The Edomode fireworks of Odaiba
At the beginning of August, Tokyo Bay bursts into flames with the Odaiba fireworks display. A somewhat extraordinary spectacle since 12,000 rockets are fired there to music with the Rainbow Bridge as a backdrop.
Baptized this year 2018 “ Edomode,” the fire takes up a trendy art of the Edo period: kabuki!
Indeed, the evening is organized in collaboration with a Kabuki troupe from Tokyo who will perform just after the final bouquet. A great way to prolong the magic of this beautiful summer evening!
See also: Japanese performing arts.
The expressions of a Kabuki theater actor.
DR
Useful information
Date: August 11, 2018, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Address: 1, Daiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 135-0091
Access: A few minutes' walk from Odaiba-Kaihinkoen station (Yurikamome line)
The Rainbow Bridge lit up with a thousand lights
Wikimedia
In general
Whatever fireworks display you attend this summer, don't hesitate to come to the show's site in advance to be sure to find a place where you can see the fires.
An absolute institution in Japan, fireworks always attract a lot of people! This is why some Japanese people even come and place a tarp on the spot they have chosen in the afternoon to ensure that no one will take their area!
The tarp is also very practical for picnicking as a way to book your pitch! Indeed, the picnic often goes hand in hand with the rockets. And many foods and drink stalls are on the premises to allow festival-goers to make the most of an evening under the flickering lights!
