The giant flowers that decorate the night sky in Japan have vanished this summer.
Ninety percent of the fireworks displays scheduled to be held around the country this year have been canceled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, and manufacturers throughout Japan are in danger of going under as their income has dried up.
"The fireworks displays have been canceled. There's no work until next year," sighed Jun Wada, 51. Wada is president of FireArt Kanagawa, a fireworks manufacturer in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, that was founded in 1907.
About 13,000 fireworks that the company has been making since last autumn are piled up in its warehouse. They were scheduled to be sent up at about 20 events this summer, but all have been canceled. Orders related to such events as regional and corporate summer festivals have also disappeared.
Fireworks can be preserved, so FireArt Kanagawa stopped making new fireworks in the latter half of April and has put all its employees, except the company's executives, on leave.
FireArt Kanagawa has received money from the government under the Subsidy Program for Sustaining Businesses, but this was just enough to cover its fixed expenses for a month, and it has not yet received employment adjustment subsidies.
"We're at risk of going under, but fireworks give people strength," Wada said. "We want to grit our teeth and overcome these difficulties."
Marutamaya Ogatsu Fireworks Co. in Fuchu, Tokyo, has been in business for about 150 years. At the end of April, it reduced production at factories in the prefectures of Ibaraki and Yamanashi. Employees are coming into work only one day a week.
"It's sad for there to be no fireworks in the summer sky," company director Kohei Ogatsu, 38, said dejectedly. "Fireworks displays account for the majority of our revenue, so the cancellations have a big impact."
Losing skills
According to the Japan Pyrotechnics Association, which comprises 321 fireworks companies, 90% of the 214 events where fireworks were set to be launched have been canceled. The called-off events include the Sumida River Fireworks Festival, which draws about 1 million people, and the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival.
About half of the fireworks companies have reportedly been forced to suspend their operations.
Of the 16 companies belonging to the Nagano prefectural fireworks union, nearly all have stopped working.
Union leader Yukio Tamura, the president of fireworks company Taiyodo Tamura Enka-ten in Chino, Nagano Prefecture, is concerned about the impact on the skills of fireworks technicians. Becoming a technician is said to take about 10 years, and every year, they observe spectators' reactions at events and hone their ideas for new fireworks.
"When the events are canceled, we lose a chance to polish our skills," said Tamura, 63.
Surprise launch planned
A group named "the association that loves Japanese fireworks" is moving forward with a plan to send up fireworks around the nation all at once, in a bid to assist struggling manufacturers. Its members include a nonprofit organization in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, known for the Omagari Hanabi, a national fireworks competition.
They have dubbed the undertaking "the Japanese fireworks cheer project," and are raising money through crowdfunding. Companies around the nation have been asked to make fireworks for the project.
About 16 million yen has been collected, more than the group's goal, and 81 companies in 29 prefectures have declared their participation.
To avoid crowded conditions, such information as the time, date and locations of the fireworks' launch will not be announced in advance, but after the event the group will distribute video of the fireworks sent up in different areas.
"We want to protect the fireworks that decorate the night sky and the skills of fireworks technicians, and break the feeling of hopelessness brought about by the spread of infections," said group representative Noriyuki Hikino, 59.
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