Fireworks Seen from the Shinkansen

One of Japan's great fireworks festivals, staged along both banks of the Shinano River. It is known for its enormous shakudama shells and for “Phoenix”, a recovery-prayer sequence that spreads across roughly two kilometres of riverfront. In sheer scale this is the largest festival on this page.

The Joetsu Shinkansen calls at Nagaoka, and the launch site is not far from the station. That is why the posts here mix two viewpoints: passengers filming from a moving train, and people waiting on the platform or standing along the line.

Two festivals, one river. On the Tokyo bank it is the Itabashi Fireworks Festival; on the Saitama bank, the Todabashi Fireworks Festival. Separate organizers hold them on the same evening at the same hour, so the two banks together read as one very large display.

Every Shinkansen leaving Tokyo for Omiya crosses this stretch of the Arakawa. Whichever line you are on — Tohoku, Joetsu, Hokuriku, Yamagata or Akita — you pass it, which gives this festival the widest range of possible trains.

An Ishikawa Prefecture festival run by the Hokkoku Shimbun newspaper. It comes in two parts: the Kanazawa event beside the Saigawa greenbelt, and the Kawakita event on the Tedorigawa riverbed.

The Hokuriku Shinkansen calls at Kanazawa and continues toward Komatsu and Kaga-Onsen. Neither venue sits far from that stretch of line.

Held on the Yodo River flats in Osaka. The Tokaido Shinkansen crosses the Yodo just before pulling into Shin-Osaka, so the shells go up outside the window exactly when you are gathering your bags to get off.

This festival drew more posts than any other on this page — filmed from Shinkansen, from local trains, and from high floors around the city.

Shells are fired from barges out on Atami Bay. After Odawara the Tokaido Shinkansen swings toward the Sagami Bay coast before reaching Atami — a stretch where the track runs unusually close to the water, threaded between the sea and the town.

What sets Atami apart is that it is not only a summer festival. Where most Japanese fireworks cluster into July and August, Atami holds displays through autumn and winter too, a dozen or more times a year, with different start times outside summer. Even a trip in a colder month can fall on a display night.

Our window spot for this stretch, “Atami and Sagami Bay”, is listed on the Seat A side — the left of the train when leaving Tokyo. Use it as a rough guide to which way the sea lies.

See the window spot: Atami and Sagami Bay

Held on the Abe River flats in Shizuoka City. The Tokaido Shinkansen crosses the Abe almost immediately after leaving Shizuoka Station, which puts the launch site among the closest to the track on this page.

For the moment you are on the bridge the water is visible from both sides of the carriage. Just remember that the direction to look flips as you cross.

Fired over the water around Bentenjima on Lake Hamana. Leaving Hamamatsu, the Tokaido Shinkansen crosses the lagoon on a bridge, and with open water on either side there is very little to block the view.

Our window spot “Lake Hamana” is listed on the Seat E side — the right of the train when leaving Tokyo.

See the window spot: Lake Hamana