The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival in Niigata Prefecture will be held in August for the first time in three years under rigorous infection preventive measures.

The Nagaoka city government and the Nagaoka Fireworks Foundation have decided to hold the event on August 2 and 3 after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The organizers said they made the decision because the occupancy rate of hospital beds for coronavirus patients in the prefecture is under control, although the number of new infections remains high.

The event, which is one of the biggest fireworks festivals in Japan, draws more than 1 million visitors to the city on the Sea of Japan in a usual year.

Nagaoka Mayor Isoda Tatsunobu told reporters on Wednesday that he hopes the event will deliver a prayer for peace amid the current international situation and a message of recovery from the pandemic.

In contrast, two extremely popular firework events in Tokyo have been canceled due to the corona virus. They usually draw more than 1 million visitors for each.

Organizers of the Edogawa City Fireworks Festival in Tokyo announced on Thursday that they will cancel the event for the third consecutive year.

Last week, organizers of the Sumida River Fireworks Festival in Tokyo also announced they will cancel the event for three straight years.