2025 Osaka Expo: Akita Pref.'s Omagari Fireworks to be on Display on June 28
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Pyrotechnic artwork launched during last year's Omagari Fireworks Festival in Daisen, Akita Prefecture.
AKITA — Pyrotechnic artworks from the famous Omagari Fireworks Festival in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, will illuminate the night sky over the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo venue on June 28.
This will mark the first time that the pyrotechnicians behind one of Japan's three major fireworks festivals will travel to the Kansai region to set off fireworks.
'We want to show people from Japan and abroad the beauty of fireworks,' fireworks specialist Tadanobu Komatsu, 61, said.
They will display fireworks as part of the Japan Fireworks Expo, where pyrotechnicians from all over the country will gather to showcase their work at the Kansai Expo.
The Omagari Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the organizer of the local fireworks festival, was approached last October about participating in the Expo event. Komatsu and his colleagues readily agreed, calling it 'an honor to shoot off fireworks at the Expo.'
Held every August, the Omagari Fireworks Festival attracts 100,000 spectators and involves 28 fireworks companies from Daisen and other regions in Japan. Each display is scored, and the participating companies rotate every five years based on their rankings.
Last year, Komatsu Fireworks Co., headed by Komatsu, won the Prime Minister's Prize, the highest honor.
'It's a competition where the best pyrotechnics are brought together, and that's why fireworks at Omagari festival are considered the pinnacle of the art,' Komatsu said.
On June 28, the Omagari Hanabi Design Team, comprising of Komatsu Fireworks and three other fireworks companies from Daisen, will shoot off fireworks from the southern embankment of Yumeshima Island in Osaka's Konohana Ward.
The team will showcase about 800 fireworks, including the most difficult 'goeshin' firework which consists of six layers of concentric circles spread evenly; 'happosaki,' which shoots light rays in various colors in a circular pattern from the center; and 'senringiku,' which explodes with a countless number of small bursts.
Komatsu went to Yumeshima in advance to confirm the launch positions.
'The fireworks of Omagari are still not well known in western Japan. We want to put on a show that will make people want to visit Omagari,' he said.
Fireworks at Expo
The Japan Fireworks Expo will feature eight fireworks displays during the 2025 Expo.
Two displays have been held so far: the Ise Shrine Dedication National Fireworks Display from Mie Prefecture on April 26 and the Futaba Fireworks from Fukushima Prefecture on May 31. The Ise display attracted 104,803 people, and the Futaba display brought a record 169,923, leading the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition to limit the number of spectators allowed to ascend the venue's Grand Roof (Ring) for viewing.
The Omagari fireworks display on June 28 is also expected to draw large crowds, so the association will dispatch more security personnel than usual to control the crowds during the event.
The June 28 display will be followed by the other famous displays on July 21, Aug. 23, Sep. 27 and Oct. 8, though details have not yet been announced. Fireworks from various regions will be launched jointly on July 23.
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