Panasonic lights up Tokyo's Sumida River with 100.000 'Fireflies’ Digital

Panasonic has surprised the entire city of Tokyo (Japan) during the Hotaru Festival, o Firefly Festival, with an artistic installation that has included more than 100.000 Blue LED light spheres floating along the Sumida Riverbed.

The Sumida River, that passes through the center of Japan's capital, Tokyo, has been filled with spectacular technological fireflies on the occasion of the Hotaru Festival or Firefly Festival, which is traditionally celebrated on these dates by depositing thousands of lights in the river that are dragged by the current. At this festival, people enjoy art exhibitions, concerts and street food, and for this occasion, one of the sponsors of the party, Panasonic, has decided to make an impressive display of 100.000 LED lights. The spheres were intended to mimic the light of fireflies.

These LEDs are called "inori-boshi" or "prayer stars", and they have been a way of recovering the millenary tradition of launching floating sails into the water, Bridging Japanese cultural traditions with new technologies. The light spheres designed by Panasonic were recharged in a 100% with solar energy and have been developed specifically for the occasion with HIT photovoltaic cells, a rechargeable battery and an LED that lights up when it comes into contact with water, which it finds out with a sensor located at the base. The result has been a spectacular staging of the Sumida River full of small moving lights in the same color as the Sky Tree, The tallest skyscraper in the city.

After illuminating a large section of the Sumida, Panasonic LED fireflies were collected for future reuse at other night parties or in summer pools. Panasonic also installed a booth in the Tokyo Sky Tree where people could learn more about the technology used to make these lights.

[YouTube]HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=356Drf4GA5E[/YouTube]

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