top and bottom images courtesy tokyo-hotaru.com
The inaugural Tokyo Hotaru festival was held last weekend. And kicking off the festivities were an impressive display of 100,000 LED lights – made to resemble hotaru (fireflies) – that floated down the Sumida River through central Tokyo. Dubbed “prayer stars,” the LEDs were provided by Panasonic, who claims that the balls, which were designed to light up upon contact with water, were 100% powered by solar energy. After illuminating a large stretch of the river, which also hosts a popular fireworks festival in the summer, the LEDs were all caught in a large net.
photo by Jeremy V. | click to enlarge
photo by Jeremy V. | click to enlarge
photo by Jeremy V. | click to enlarge
There are plenty of literary references indicating that the Sumida River was once home to real fireflies, which were said to gather around clean, running water. Searching for these luminous creatures on the banks was a popular activity in Tokyo (Edo, at the time) during the 18th century. For sad and obvious reasons, fireflies no longer inhabit the area. The Tokyo Hotaru festival is part of the city’s “Sumida River Renaissance” initiative.
Like fireflies? Check out these stunning long-exposure photos of fireflies by Japanese photographer Tsuneaki Hiramatsu. Then read the story about how they went viral.
photo by makure | click to enlarge
photo by ajpscs | click to enlarge
photo by Mai Suzuki | click to enlarge
source: @stevenaga
May 10, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Really impressed. WoW!
May 11, 2012 at 4:20 am
Video or it didn’t happen : )
May 11, 2012 at 8:43 am
while the project is beautiful, i’m kind of horrified by the environmental implications. there’s no mention of whether these are being scooped back out of the river at any point downstream, and if they’re not, then it’s somewhat irresponsible.
May 11, 2012 at 8:13 pm
There is a mention.
May 12, 2012 at 2:10 am
@damian0815
Did you even read the article or do you have to throw your agenda around as soon as you see something to apply it to?
It says that they were all special LED’s that are solar powered and at the end of the event, they netted them all up.
May 12, 2012 at 2:32 am
Damian if you took the 2 seconds it requires to read the caption you would see they were all reclaimed. My question is if intended to resemble fireflies, why are the LED’s blue. Fireflies are green to yellow.
May 12, 2012 at 10:11 am
damian, “After illuminating a large stretch of the river, which also hosts a popular fireworks festival in the summer, the LEDs were all caught in a large net.” I think you should learn to read an article.
May 12, 2012 at 12:52 pm
That was beautiful and Magnificent, loved the Blue LEDs!!
May 13, 2012 at 6:45 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xKUpGKk6pEY
Though the lights were supposed to resemble fireflies, the original name for this is called “Project Milkyway” and thus the blue LEDs. Seems like they do it all over Japan.
May 13, 2012 at 5:58 pm
of course i read the article. when i wrote the comment there was no mention in the article of the LEDs being scooped up again. my comment was in moderation for around 12 hours so i guess the article was modified in between.
May 13, 2012 at 6:01 pm
also, “all”? all 100,000 of them? none got caught in the banks at the side of the river, or slipped through the net, or sank, or broke into parts which got eaten by a fish?
May 13, 2012 at 9:00 pm
@damian0815, sorry I couldn’t modify your comment right away as I was out of the office all day. As for the article, it’s never been updated or modified since it was published on May 10.
And yes, I probably should have said “most” as it’s reasonable to assume that a few of them escaped the net.
May 14, 2012 at 12:44 am
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! They should do something like this on the Chao Praya river in Bangkok, Thai people love light spectacles.
May 14, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Stupid. You’d think a country that just went through nuclear near-armageddon would think twice about producing a glowing river… Stupid waste of money, and lacking in tact.
May 14, 2012 at 3:14 pm
…and that was the last time damiano815 ever commented on an article on the internet.
May 15, 2012 at 3:01 am
Beautiful; if you know of the Shinto tradition of Toro nagashi, floating lanterns down the river in honor of departed ancestors, you will know what they were emulating. It’s hardly a waste of money, it was tying an ancient tradition into modern technology, something the nation of Japan specializes in. As for the environmental impact they were specifically designed to be too large for fish or birds to swallow. Not to mention that it would be pretty easy to send someone to look for the stray ones the next night, bright glowing blue orb should be easy to spot.
April 8, 2013 at 1:12 am
Excellent post. I’m going through many of these issues as well..