June 9, 2012 at 10:47 am

100,000 Blue Orbs Floating Down a River in Tokyo

by twistedsifter

blue leds globes floating down river tokyo japan hotaru festival 100,000 Blue Orbs Floating Down a River in Tokyo

Photograph via Tokyo-Hotaru.jp

 

 

On May 5, 2012, 100,000 blue LED spheres floated down the Sumida River in central Tokyo to kick off the inaugural two day Tokyo Hotaru Festival. The LED’s dubbed prayer stars were provided by Panasonic, who stated the spheres were 100% solar powered and designed to be large enough so they wouldn’t be swallowed by fish.

The LEDs are meant to resemble hotaru (fireflies) as they float gently down the river. Onlookers gathered on the river’s edge to take in the surreal event. Japanese design blog Spoon & Tamago were the first to cover this, stating that there are many literary references regarding the Sumida River once being a haven for fireflies.

For those wondering what happened with all of those LED balls, they were captured in a large net downstream 🙂 Below you will find a small gallery of pictures from this amazing installation. Enjoy!

 

[Spoon & Tamago via Colossal]

 

 

 

1.

 

?????

Photograph by ajpscs on Flickr

 

 

 

2.

 

?????????

 

 

 

3.

 

IMG_1451

Photograph by Jeremy.V on Flickr

 

 

 

4.

 

_DSC9217.jpg

 

 

 

5.

 

IMG_1456

Photograph by Jeremy.V on Flickr

 

 

 

6.

 

IMG_1466

Photograph by Jeremy.V on Flickr

 

 

 

7.

 

_DSC9240.jpg

 

 

 

8.

 

TOKYO HOTARU

Photograph by ajpscs on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, the Sifter highly recommends:

 

 

long exposure night photography gold fireflies japan 1 100,000 Blue Orbs Floating Down a River in Tokyo

 

 

 

 

light painting light drawing light graffiti trevor williams 14 100,000 Blue Orbs Floating Down a River in Tokyo

 

 

 

 

light calligraphy julien breton kaalam 100,000 Blue Orbs Floating Down a River in Tokyo