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Japanese Summer – Season for Hanabi (fireworks)

Japanese summer is the season for fireworks. Fireworks is Hanabi (花火：はなび） in Japanese. If you translate Hanabi directly, it means “flower fires”. It’s perfect description since fireworks resemble flowers very much. There are many fireworks festivals big and small happening throughout Japan. They are festivals, so it means you should normally expect many people there.

The 2nd largest fireworks festival in Tokyo

Sumida River Fireworks Festival 2019 is the largest fireworks festival in Tokyo. Every year on the same day as Sumida River Fireworks, Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival is also happening. Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival is the 2nd biggest fireworks festival in Tokyo.

What I heard once was that the reason Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks is on the same day is to prevent from too many people going to Sumida River Fireworks Festival. This year, they were also supposed to happen on the same day in July 27th, 2019.

Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival 2019 Postponed

But, this year, Tachikawa decided to postpone the fireworks to the next day due to weather condition, so they announced it will happen in July 28th instead. I was really disappointed because it was canceled last year due to rain, and it seemed that it was going to rain on the rescheduled day as well.

When Tachikawa canceled the fireworks last year, it actually didn’t rain. Sumida River Fireworks Festival was not canceled last year, and they didn’t postpone it this year either. I really thought the last year’s nightmare would repeat this year. 🙁

Nevertheless, it was great weather on the rescheduled day, and Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival 2019 was a successful fireworks festival!!

I was there with my family and some of my family friends. See the video below that I took at the site yesterday. It isn’t as big as Sumida River Fireworks Festival. However, if you hate the crowd and that’s the reason why you have been avoiding fireworks festival (like me), why don’t you try Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival next year? In addition, if you take advantage of paid reserved seats, it’s even better!

Paid reserved seats worth the money?

Even the free site didn’t feel so crowded because the park itself is huge to hold many people. But if you really hate the crowd like me, i think it really is worth the money to pay for the seat to sit at the reserved area. I am definitely buying reserved seat tickets again next year. There is even separate restrooms just for the reserved area! If you have been to any festivals with tons of people, and especially if you are drinking alcohol, you know how pain it is with restrooms with long lines.

I wrote about the details about paid reserved seats in another blog article. Please read if you are interested!

Who would I recommend Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival to?

In summary, if you are expecting spectacular fireworks, you will be disappointed with Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park Fireworks Festival. However, if you want to experience Japanese Hanabi but you don’t want to be pushed around by the crowd, I recommend Tachikawa Showa Kinen Park. In addition, it lasts for an hour so you will have plenty of time to enjoy it. Sometimes those smaller scale local fireworks festivals last shorter time, and it ends too soon. Optional but recommended, if you want to have better experience, get paid reserved seat tickets.

It is going to be super hot summer in Tokyo. Enjoy the rest of the summer and drink lots of water!