Last night I went to the famous Sumida River fireworks show. This is the biggest fireworks event in Japan and one of the biggest in the world. The first Sumida river fireworks display was held in 1733. In the previous year the whole of Japan had suffered a great famine in which over 900,000 people starved to death. At that time, in Edo( present day Tokyo) so many people were dying of cholera that bodies were adandoned on the streets. The government decided to hold a fireworks display to confort the souls of the dead and to drive away the pestilence. Nowadays over one million people attend the event and over 20,000 fireworks are used. The fireworks are launched continuously from two different locations on the Sumida river for over 90 minutes!