Sumida River Fireworks Festival

Japan's oldest recorded fireworks festival dates back to 1733, when it was staged as part of a ceremony to pray for victims of a severe famine the previous year. These historical associations may explain why, although the Edogawa, Itabashi and Tamagawa fireworks displays were all cancelled in the wake of March 11, the Sumida River's will still be going ahead – albeit a month later than usual. A whopping 20,000 fireworks are deployed in the course of the display, and it regularly draws nearly a million visitors, though we wouldn't be surprised to see even more than that this year.