May 09, 2012

Panasonic Creates "Symphony of Light" on Tokyo's Sumida River

On May 6, 2012, Panasonic took part in the "Symphony of Light" event of the Tokyo Hotaru Festival, using its LED lighting to create a spectacular art installation on the Sumida River in Tokyo.

The "Symphony of Light" on the Sumida River in Tokyo (Amanokawa Project®, ©Tokyo Hotaru)

On the evening of May 6, Panasonic released about 100,000 "wishing star" LED lights into the Sumida River. Accompanied by the lights of the Tokyo Sky Tree, these "wishing stars", glowing brightly like fantastic fireflies on the river, worked to spin a beautiful symphony of light on the river.

The "Wishing Star" LED Lights Floating Down the Sumida River

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The Sumida River in Tokyo

This art installation was part of the Tokyo Hotaru Festival, or "Firefly Festival" in English, a two-day event held on the banks of Sumida River in Central Tokyo, near Asakusa and the Tokyo Sky Tree. Over the two days of the festival, a variety of events, including art exhibitions, concerts and outdoor food stands were held, attracting attracting a great number of visitors. Panasonic also ran a booth at the event where the visitors could learn more about the lighting in the Tokyo Sky Tree and the "wishing star" LED lights.

The name of the festival comes from the similarity of the "wishing star" LED lights used in the event to the lights of fireflies, and reflects the concept for the installation and festival of creating a Sumida River full of fireflies.

Specifications of the "Wishing Star" (Japanese)

The "wishing stars" are equipped with Panasonic's LED chips, rechargeable batteries and solar cells. Through these solar cells and rechargeable batteries, the "wishing stars" can create and store all the energy they need for independently, meaning that no energy was used in lighting them, reducing the impact of the event on the environment. After the event, all the "wishing stars" were collected to be reused again in the future.