A fireworks display in Tokyo, Japan, in 2019. This image is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images]
A fireworks display in Tokyo, Japan, in 2019. This image is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images]

A large fireworks festival in Japan that sold tickets worth tens of thousands of yen and collected vendor fees — promising to launch more than 10,000 fireworks — was abruptly canceled just before the event, stirring controversy.

The "Biwako Three-City Simultaneous Fireworks Festival" had been heavily promoted as an event that would launch more than 10,000 fireworks at once across three cities near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. According to the Asahi Shimbun on Wednesday, it was canceled two weeks before it was set to take place.

The organizing committee, which had set Aug. 22 as the event date, sold viewing tickets online ranging from 7,000 yen ($44) to 19,000 yen ($117). It also recruited food stall vendors, charging 50,000 yen per booth.

On Aug. 9, just two weeks before the event, the committee abruptly canceled it and announced through social media that it was "difficult to put in place the necessary preparations and operational structure."

Ticket holders and vendors who had been preparing their stalls lodged complaints, but the organizers waited until Aug. 22 — the originally scheduled event date — to post an apology. Even then, they offered no concrete refund timeline or process, saying only that they were "working out the scope of refunds," deepening frustration among those affected.

According to the report, the person who presented himself as the committee's representative had approached Shiga Prefecture lawmakers and local government officials with a vision to "energize the region." It emerged that he had pushed ahead with the event without completing even basic logistical steps — securing a venue, arranging parking or placing a fireworks order.

He had also visited a local fireworks manufacturer and indicated he would place an order worth 20 million yen and transfer payment by bank wire, but later cut off all contact.

Ticket buyers and vendors are filing complaints and reports with police, treating the incident as a fraudulent and poorly planned scheme.

The committee representative has reportedly given only a repeated response to media inquiries: "We will provide refund instructions once the process is finalized."


betterj@heraldcorp.com