Visitors are seen taking a selfie in a candle-lit background exhibited for the "Candle Night for One Million People" event in Osaka's Kita Ward on Dec. 4, 2019. (Mainichi/Yohei Koide)

OSAKA -- The "Candle Night for One Million People" event, held in the Nishiumeda district of Kita Ward in this western Japan city on the night of Dec. 4, gave visitors an opportunity to reflect on modern life's dependence on electricity.

As buildings in the district switched off their lights, creators and vocational school students displayed art works using a total of about 15,000 candles in an array spanning from the streets around Hanshin Osaka-Umeda Station to the Nishiumeda Park in front of the Mainichi Newspaper Co.'s Osaka Head Office building. Many visitors strolled around the display while taking in the views with their smartphones and cameras.

The event, now in its 29th edition, is held twice a year in the district and is run by an executive committee including The Mainichi Newspapers Co.

(Japanese original by Naho Sueda, Osaka Project Department)