DirectRooms.com – Sumida River Fireworks Spark the Skies over Tokyo on 31 July 2010

Thousands of brightly-coloured rockets will light up the evening sky over the Sumida River during the traditional Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai display.

The show will also include a competition between firework companies, so visitors should be delighted by some of the best pyrotechnics in the world.

The prime viewing spots aboard boats on the river fill up quickly, and many of the expected crowd of 900,000 opt instead for the grassy expanse of Asakusa's Sumida Park.

The crowds can be intense, but street vendors selling hot sake and corn on the cob help to ease the tension.

"We predict Tokyo hotels will fill up quickly ahead of the annual Sumida fireworks," said Lek Boonlert, head of marketing at DirectRooms.com, "so it's definitely worth it to think about booking well in advance."

Fireworks came to Japan from China centuries ago and have since become a Japanese summer tradition. The Sumida show is by far the biggest and more breathtaking event in Tokyo, attracting hundreds of thousands of local and international visitors every year.

Newcomers to the Sumida River fireworks will be pleased to learn that getting to the park is easy. Tokyo's Metro Ginza line goes straight to Asakusa Station, which is just steps away from the banks of the Sumida River.

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