This weekend, one of Tokyo’s most prestigous fireworks festivals, Sumidagawa Hanabi, took place over the Sumida river.

The pyrotechnic festivity with 20,000 fireworks — and about the same amount of spectators — lasted about an hour and a half.

What’s really great about Japanese hanabi is that fireworks last really long — the rockets keep exploding without breaks for an hour or even more. Organizers spend months preparing for these events.

We dug up a couple of videos showing this year’s sparkling Sumidagawa Hanabi. Watch:

The Japanese bowling society strikes back at the summer heat! Asahi.com has a short report about a fun ice bowling event that was held yesterday as part of the local festival in front of Tokyo’s JR Shinbashi Station. During the event, they unveiled an oversized 2-meter tall ice bowling pin with a weight of 700 kg. Watch the report below.

Photo by Damien McMahon (Flickr: damien_m_in_japan)

Summer in Japan is a time for spectacular fireworks displays! Below we listed some of Japan’s biggest fireworks events – called hanabi (花火) — which take place in July and August. The events are listed from north to south. The dates and times are current. However, if you plan on attending any of these events, please refer to the official web sites for any changes and updated information.

Akita
August 28 at 6:50 PM – Official web site
This event, started in 1910, is considered one of the largest and most prestigious in the country. Location is along the Omonogawa river in Omagari district in Daisen, Akita Prefecture.

Miyagi
August 5 from 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM – Official web site
About 16,000 fireworks will be set off near Sendai Nishi Park in the city of Sendai, close to Hirose-dori subway station. The location can also be reached by bus from Sendai Station.

Tokyo – Sumidagawa Hanabi
July 31 from 7:05 PM – 8:30 PM – Official web site
This is Tokyo’s largest fireworks display along the Sumida river. About 20,000 fireworks will be set off between Sakurabashi and Kototoibashi bridges and between Komogatabashi and Umayabashi bridges. Both locations are close to Asakusa Station.

Tokyo – Ichikawa Hanabi
August 7 from 7:15 PM – 8:30 PM – Official web site
The event takes place along the Edogawa river. About 1,000 fireworks will explode in the first 10 seconds. Altogether the sky will be lit up by 14,000 fireworks near the Shinozaki Park (Shinozaki Station). The fireworks can also be seen from across the river in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture.

Tokyo – Tokyo Bay
August 14 from 7:00 PM – 8:20 PM – Official web site
The event will about 12,000 fireworks will take place in Harumi Futo which can be reached from Kachidoki, Tsukishima and Toyosu. Free admission tickets for the main venue will be available by lottery. In the event of bad weather the fireworks will be canceled.

Yamanashi
July 3 from 8:00 PM – 8:30 PM – Official web site
About 2,000 fireworks over the lake Kawaguchiko will mark the beginning of the Mt. Fuji climbing season. The area also offers great view of Japan’s trademark mountain. Additional 10,000 fireworks will be set off on August 4 (8:00 PM – 8:30 PM) and August 5 (7:30 PM – 9:00 PM). The location can be reached from Kawaguchiko Station on the Fuji Kyuko Line.

Kanagawa – Yokohama
Augusut 1 from 7:15 PM – 8:30 PM – Official web site
About 8,000 fireworks will explode in the Minato Mirai district in Yokohama. The event can be seen from Rinko Park, Red Brick Park, Yamashita Park and elsewhere. Closest stations are Minato Mirai, Sakuragicho and Yokohama.

Kanagawa – Yokosuka
August 7 from 7:30 – 8:10 PM – Official web site
This event with 10,000 fireworks, which is part of the Yokosuka Kaikoku festival in the Yokosuka New Port, can be seen from Umikaze Park, Mikasa Park and elsewhere. Closest station is Yokosuka-Chuo on the Keikyu Line.

Shizuoka
July 25, 30 and August 5, 11, 19, 22, 29 from 8:20 PM – 8:50 PM – Official web site
The fireworks will be set off over Atami Bay in Atami and will be best seen from Atami Sun Beach, Shinsui Park and elsewhere along the city’s coast. Closest station is Atami. In the event of typhoon, the fireworks will be canceled.

Osaka
August 7 from 7:50 PM – 8:40 PM – Official web site
Fireworks will illuminate over the Yodogawa river in Osaka. Closest stations are Tsukamoto and Umeda. In the event of bad weather, the fireworks will be postponed to next day, August 8.

Hyogo
August 7 from 7:30 PM – 8:20 PM – Official web site
About 10,000 fireworks will be set off over Kobe Port in Kobe. The event will be best seen from Meriken Park, Nakatottei and elsewhere. Closest station is Motomachi.

Fukuoka
August 5 from 7:40 – 9:10 PM – Official web site
About 18,000 fireworks display will light up the sky over Chikugogawa river in the city of Kurume. Fireworks will be set off from two locations near the shrines Suitengu and Sasayamajinja. Closest station is Kurume.

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Source: http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201006240400.html

If you are visiting Tokyo around this time and are looking for a good place to see cherry blossoms, you should head over to Ueno Park where the blossoms are in full bloom this week. Hanami, as the Japanese call it, is a spring festival for viewing of cherry blossoms and parties under the sakura (cherry) trees.

Typically during the hanami, people go to the park in early morning hours to find and secure the best place for a picnic and then wait for others to join, whether it’s family members, friends or coworkers. These parties can go on until late evening.

Hanami is so popular in Japan that tourist agencies offer travels around the country just for the purpose of viewing cherry blossoms and meteorologists every year try to predict very specifically where and when the sakura will start blooming. There are even special web sites like this one for the purpose of following the blooming and forecasts.

Besides many other parks in Tokyo, Ueno Park is one of top favorite places for viewing. It might be interesting to know how many people gathered here during this time. Maybe 1000, 10,000, 50,000? Not even close! According to TV reports, in one single day (Saturday, April 3rd) there were about 1 million people visiting Ueno Park despite the gloomy weather during the evening when it started raining. Of course that’s not an obstacle, so the next day, on Sunday, again about the same amount of people visited the park.

Digital fortune teller booth.

It’s well taken care of for the starved crowd; people can get various kinds of Japanese style fast food, meaning mysterious dishes like okonomiyaki, oden, takoyaki and more international ones like baked corn, french fries, Turkish kebab and similar snacks. It’s interesting that despite this massive gathering there was no music to be heard anywhere. A bit of a different type of party than usually in the West.

While strolling around the food stands, we came across a fortune teller who usually aren’t that interesting for an average Japanese. And I don’t mean your typical gypsy fortune teller with a crystal ball — this one was giving predictions right out of the computer (see photo on the left). The guy had a scanner on the counter where you place your hand and then wait a bit until the computer gives a proper analysis of your future. How much can you believe this system? According to the sign on the booth, these digital predictions are 90% reliable. Fair enough!

As is common during the hanami, the cherry trees were decorated with long rows of bright red lanterns which turn on in the evening. The signs written on them usually mean names of companies and shops that sponsor the festival.

You’re welcome to take a look at the rest of the photos in our gallery, taken on April 3rd at Ueno Park:

Gallery: Hanami – Cherry blossom viewing at Ueno Park 2010
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One of the world’s largest anime events, the annual Tokyo International Anime Fair 2010 (TAF 2010), was held last week from March 25th – 28th at the exhibition center Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba.

The event this year attracted more than 130,000 anime fans and included 231 exhibitors from Japan and 59 from abroad, including many famous companies like TOHO, Toei Animation, Studio Ghibli, Fuji TV, NHK, Konami, Bandai, just to name a few.

Along with snooping around the incredibly crowded booths, the anime hungry visitors could shop for latest anime goods at Anime Bazaar, take photos with live characters, enjoy live stage shows or stop by at Creator’s World to see the creations of highly talented young artists who are advancing their professional career to gain major status in the anime industry. In School Zone, prospective students could find out everything about study programs of several famous Japanese animation schools.

Let’s take a look at some highlights.

Artworks of animation students.

The exhibitors displayed their creations on rather prestigous tech:

Left: NEC's 3D display for watching in 3D without the need for special glasses. The system is very convincing, yet it seems like it will take some more time before it's fully watchable without noticing the slight shift in the image. Right: fun ultra thin (about 3 mm) display was attracting attention in the booth of Studio Anima.

Anime studio Kamikaze Douga promoted itself by parking a flashy vehicle right in their booth:

Fans could meet some of the singers who perform songs for anime, like the popular female duet Neko Jump from Thailand. The comedian with pastries in his wig was seen on several stages making sure that nobody got bored by any chance:

One of the booths featured a case with a shiny Playstation 3 console, covered with 24-karat gold:

Needless to say, there were plenty of figurines to be seen everywhere. Below we caught a special edition of the popular virtual idol Hatsune Miku, named Metallic Miku:

The UFO-like Tokyo Big Sight, the location of this year’s anime fair. The photo was taken during a 1-hour wait in line:

Have a look at the rest of the photos in our gallery:

Gallery: Tokyo International Anime Fair 2010
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Have you visited this or previous year’s Tokyo International Anime Fair? How was your experience? You’re welcome to write in the comments below.