KYODO NEWS - Aug 13, 2019 - 05:35 | Japan, All

People in Japan are likely to enjoy fewer fireworks next summer due to the commitment of security personnel and resources to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Organizers of fireworks events are already planning to cancel next year's shows or frontload the summer schedule to avoid the Tokyo Games, according to people familiar with the events.

The Sumida River Fireworks Festival, normally held on the last Saturday in July, will instead take place on July 11 next year, making way for the Summer Olympics from July 24 through Aug. 9.

Tokyo's Koto Ward also plans to move its annual August fireworks to June 6 next year, as the waterfront ward will host a number of Olympic events.

Meanwhile, the capital city's Chuo Ward has suspended its annual Tokyo Bay Fireworks Festival since 2016 amid construction of the Olympic village and difficulty in securing a large enough alternate site.

In 2015, the festival drew some 720,000 people and produced an economic impact of about 7.4 billion yen ($70.3 million). Romi Takahashi, secretary general of the Tokyo Yakatabune Association to which over 30 cruise boat operators belong, said the August festival was a major event in their peak season.

"Continued suspension of the event is taking a toll on us. We hope the event will be revived after the Olympics," Takahashi said. But the ward has not decided whether it will resume the fireworks festival in 2021 and beyond.

In the town of Ichinomiya, situated on the Pacific coast of Chiba Prefecture, the local government has not yet decided whether to hold its annual fireworks event next August while it hosts an Olympic surfing competition.

"We don't want to disrupt the flow of athletes (during the competition), but we can't bring many visitors if we don't host a fireworks festival in the summer," said an official of the town's tourism promotion association.

The city of Fukushima in northeastern Japan will host baseball and softball games for the 2020 Olympics. The city says it will decide what to do with its annual summer fireworks festival after assessing its security resources, given the amount of staff needed to secure Olympic events.

Shortages of security personnel for local festivals have occurred as a result of major events other than the Olympics. A fireworks festival scheduled for this October in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, was canceled due to an overlap with the Rugby World Cup as the municipality concluded it lacked the security personnel to cover both.

Ongoing Olympics-related renovation work at Katase-Enoshima Station of the Odakyu Electric Railway Co. -- the nearest station to the festival venue -- also made it difficult for the city to host the event this fall.

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