Japan Fireworks Festivals (Hanabi) — Where & When to Go

Japan's oldest fireworks festival, with roots going back to 1733 under the Tokugawa shogunate. Today it launches around 20,000 shells over the Sumida River in the middle of Asakusa, drawing close to a million spectators. Fireworks bursting beside Tokyo Skytree is the classic image of summer in the capital.

One of Japan's three great fireworks festivals. The highlight is the "Phoenix," a continuous launch stretching nearly 2 kilometres along the Shinano River, joined by the giant Sanjakudama shell about 90 cm in diameter. The show was started to commemorate the city's recovery after war and earthquake, and draws around a million people a year.

A national fireworks competition that Lonely Planet once called Japan's "fireworks Olympics." Around 28 of the country's top pyrotechnicians compete head to head for the grand prize, with both daytime and nighttime fireworks. People who've been say the craftsmanship of each shell is so refined it stands clearly apart from an ordinary show.

A major Kansai fireworks show that launches around 10,000 shells over Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake. The fireworks reflect off the still water in a gorgeous mirror image. Best of all, it's right next to Kyoto — just about a 10-minute train ride from Kyoto Station.

Another of Japan's three great fireworks festivals, and another national competition — but unlike the others it's held in early November to celebrate the harvest. It's famous for starmine, the rapid continuous bursts considered the best in the country, launching around 20,000 shells beside the Sakura River.

A fireworks show run by the Perfect Liberty religious order since 1953, famous for launching an enormous number of shells in rapid succession over a short window — especially the finale, which bursts continuously until the whole sky is lit. People who've been say the intensity per minute is unlike an ordinary show. It runs on a single day, August 1, every year.