The Lake Biwa Three-City Simultaneous Fireworks Festival was scheduled for August 22, 2026, across Hikone, Nagahama and Takashima in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
The event was canceled on August 9.
Subsequent reporting revealed that some of the locations presented as planned venues had not been formally secured and that required preparations and administrative procedures remained incomplete.
That raises a basic question:
Who was actually organizing the Lake Biwa Three-City Fireworks Festival?
The name of the event may sound as if the three city governments were jointly organizing it.
They were not.
The festival’s official website identifies an organizing committee, names Yasushi Yanaka as the person responsible for operations, and also contains references to an entity called Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO.
More recently, a man described by ANN News as a former official photographer for the festival has also spoken publicly about how preparations were being carried out several months before the scheduled event.
This article separates what can be confirmed from official and public sources from what remains unclear.
- Who Was Listed as the Organizer?
- Was the Festival Organized by Hikone, Nagahama and Takashima?
- What Kind of Organization Was the Executive Committee?
- Who Is Yasushi Yanaka?
- Yanaka Was Also Involved in an Underwater-Drone Project in Takashima
- What Is “Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO”?
- Were the Sponsors Clearly Identified?
- What Did the Organizer Say When the Festival Was Canceled?
- The Three Cities Had Already Warned That They Were Not Involved
- Were the Planned Venues Officially Secured?
- A Former Official Photographer Describes How Preparations Were Underway
- Timeline: From Ticket Sales to Cancellation
- What Can Be Confirmed So Far?
- What Is Still Unclear?
- Conclusion: What We Know — and What We Do Not
Who Was Listed as the Organizer?
The festival’s official website contains a page equivalent to Japan’s legally required commercial transaction disclosure.
On that page, the vendor and organizer are listed as:
Lake Biwa Three Cities Simultaneous Fireworks Display Executive Committee
The same page lists:
Yasushi Yanaka
as the Chief Operations Officer.
Based on the official website, the basic structure can be summarized as follows:
↓ Organized by
Lake Biwa Three Cities Simultaneous Fireworks Display Executive Committee
↓ Chief Operations Officer
Yasushi Yanaka
The important point is that the governments of Hikone, Nagahama and Takashima are not listed here as organizers.
Source:
Official festival website — commercial transaction disclosure
Was the Festival Organized by Hikone, Nagahama and Takashima?
No.
The phrase “Three-City Fireworks Festival” could easily give readers the impression that the three municipalities were jointly organizing the event.
However, official statements and reporting show otherwise.
Hikone City stated that neither the city nor the Hikone Tourism Association was involved in the festival and directed inquiries to the festival’s organizing committee.
Nagahama City likewise published a notice explaining that the Lake Biwa Three-City Fireworks Festival was separate from fireworks events organized or co-organized by the city.
Media reports also stated that all three municipalities denied involvement in the festival.
In other words, this was intended to be:
a festival held across three cities
but not:
a festival organized by the three city governments.
That distinction is important when reading the event name.
Sources:
Hikone City
Nagahama City
What Kind of Organization Was the Executive Committee?
The official organizer was an entity called the Lake Biwa Three Cities Simultaneous Fireworks Display Executive Committee.
In Japan, an “executive committee” can refer to a temporary organization formed by companies, local groups, associations or individuals for a specific event.
However, in the public information we reviewed, we could not confirm a detailed list of committee members or a complete organizational chart.
We were unable to find publicly available information clearly identifying:
- the full committee membership
- a vice-chair or deputy representative
- a secretariat director
- a complete list of participating organizations
- a detailed internal organizational chart
One person whose role can be confirmed from public sources is Yasushi Yanaka.
Who Is Yasushi Yanaka?
The festival’s official website lists Yasushi Yanaka as Chief Operations Officer.
A separate source from the Shiga Prefectural Board of Education gives an even more specific title.
In a May 2026 article about an underwater-drone science project at Takashima High School, the board identifies Yanaka as:
representative of the Lake Biwa Three-City Fireworks Festival Executive Committee.
This gives us two separate descriptions from public sources:
Shiga Prefectural Board of Education: Representative of the Executive Committee
That is stronger evidence than relying on social media profiles or third-party biographies.
Source:
Shiga Prefectural Board of Education
Yanaka Was Also Involved in an Underwater-Drone Project in Takashima
The same Shiga Prefectural Board of Education article provides another publicly documented activity.
On May 16, 2026, students from Takashima High School took part in fieldwork using an underwater drone.
The prefectural education board states that Yanaka assisted the project and instructed students in operating the underwater drone.
The article also describes drone-based content creation as one of the activities connected to his work.
This shows that, at least by May 2026, Yanaka had a documented connection with community-related activities in Takashima while also being publicly identified as the representative of the fireworks executive committee.
What Is “Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO”?
Another name appearing on the festival website is:
Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO
The festival’s sponsors page lists this name as a SPECIAL PARTNER.
There are also several technical connections between the name and the festival website.
Festival contact email: @yamatanolabo.com
Special Partner: Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO
These are clear points of connection.
However, we could not independently confirm enough public information to establish the organization’s legal status, full leadership structure, date of establishment or complete history of activities.
For that reason, it would be inaccurate to state that:
Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO = the Executive Committee
or that it is legally identical to another company or organization.
What can be said is that the name has a strong and visible connection with the festival’s official website.
Were the Sponsors Clearly Identified?
The official website also had a page introducing sponsors and partner organizations.
The page listed Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO as a Special Partner.
However, several other entries on the page remained generic placeholders using Japanese “〇〇” characters rather than identifiable company names.
For example, the page included entries equivalent to:
Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO
Company XXXX
GOLD PARTNERS
XX Construction Co.
XX Bank
XX Trading Co.
XX Holdings
The existence of placeholders does not prove that no sponsors existed.
The page may simply have been unfinished or not fully updated.
The cautious conclusion is that the complete list of specific sponsor organizations could not be confirmed from the public sponsor page.
Source:
Official festival website — sponsors page
What Did the Organizer Say When the Festival Was Canceled?
On August 9, the festival’s official website announced that the event would be canceled.
The notice stated that organizers had been making preparations and adjustments but had concluded that it would be difficult to establish the necessary preparations and operational structure by the scheduled event date.
The notice also stated that the event would not be postponed or rescheduled.
It apologized to ticket buyers, vendors and others involved, and said that future responses were being reviewed with legal experts.
The same announcement also addressed the office address that had previously appeared on the website.
It stated that the old location had not been in use since June 2026 and was not currently the office of the executive committee.
This is why the English-language screenshot shown at the beginning of this article is important: it records the organizer’s own public explanation at the time of cancellation.
The Three Cities Had Already Warned That They Were Not Involved
Before the cancellation announcement, local governments had already begun publishing notices distancing themselves from the event.
Hikone City explicitly stated on August 6 that neither the city nor the Hikone Tourism Association was involved.
Nagahama City also published a notice on August 6 explaining which fireworks festivals it actually organized or co-organized, and stated that the Lake Biwa Three-City Fireworks Festival was a separate event.
Media reports subsequently described all three cities as denying involvement.
This created an unusual situation:
the festival was being promoted under the names of three cities, while the municipal governments themselves were telling the public that they were not organizers.
Were the Planned Venues Officially Secured?
Another issue emerged after the cancellation.
Reports said that the organizing committee had presented specific planned locations to vendors and other participants, including:
- Hikone Port in Hikone
- Saikachi Beach in Nagahama
- Mutsuyazaki Beach in Takashima
However, subsequent reporting indicated that formal procedures to use those locations had not been completed.
The geographic relationship between these proposed locations is examined separately using Google Maps and Google Earth.
The locations in that article should be understood as proposed locations presented by the organizer, not officially confirmed fireworks venues.
A Former Official Photographer Describes How Preparations Were Underway
On August 12, ANN News reported new testimony from a man who had previously been introduced by the organizing side as an official photographer for the festival.
According to the man, he was asked by the person overseeing festival operations around May 2026 to take promotional photographs for the event.
He said he was given three inert display shells — mock fireworks shells containing no explosives — marked with the names:
- Takashima
- Nagahama
- Hikone
The photographer said he visited locations associated with the three planned host cities and photographed the corresponding mock shells.
He also said that photographs he supplied were later used by the organizers on Instagram and other promotional channels.
The ANN report showed photographs said to have been taken by the former official photographer, including images of the mock shells bearing the city names.
According to his testimony, the shells were supposed to be returned, but they remained at his home because no one ultimately came to collect them.
He Says He Was Told There Was Enough Funding for Several Years
The same man also described what he said he had been told about the festival’s finances.
According to his account, the person overseeing operations told him that there was enough money to hold the three-city fireworks festival for approximately three years.
He also said he was told that it would not matter even if seats for the 2026 event did not sell and that there was no concern about money.
These statements are important because they describe what the photographer says he was told during preparations.
However, they do not independently establish that such funding actually existed.
The publicly available information reviewed for this article does not currently establish the amount of funding available to the executive committee or where such funding would have come from.
He Says He Never Saw Actual Fireworks Shells or Fireworks Technicians
The former official photographer also told ANN that during the period when he was involved with the project, he had not seen actual fireworks shells or the pyrotechnicians who would have been responsible for the display.
Around June, he said he became concerned about the state of preparations and told the operations chief that he wanted to step down as official photographer.
According to the photographer, he was told that the festival was intended to go ahead and that evidence demonstrating that it could be held would be shown to him.
He told ANN that, as of the interview, he had still not been shown that evidence.
This remains the testimony of one person involved in promotional work for the event.
It does not by itself establish the complete state of the festival’s technical preparations.
Source:
ANN News / TV Asahi — Interview with former official photographer
The Photographer Says He Is Withholding Final Judgment
An important part of the interview is that the former photographer did not present a final judgment about the organizer.
When ANN asked whether he trusted the person overseeing the festival, he said he was currently withholding judgment.
He indicated that he wanted to see what happened next, including whether ticket buyers and others would actually receive refunds, before deciding what to believe.
That distinction matters.
His testimony provides additional information about how promotional preparations were being carried out, but the witness himself stopped short of making a definitive judgment about the organizer’s intentions.
Timeline: From Ticket Sales to Cancellation
The publicly known sequence can be summarized as follows:
January 2026
Ticket sales began.
April 2026
The organizing side reportedly visited the Shiga Prefectural Government and received explanations about procedures required for the event.
Around May 2026
According to a former official photographer interviewed by ANN, he was asked to create promotional photographs using mock fireworks shells marked with the names of Takashima, Nagahama and Hikone.
May 16, 2026
Yasushi Yanaka participated in an underwater-drone project at Takashima High School.
Around June 2026
The former official photographer told ANN that he became concerned about the state of preparations and asked to step down from his role.
August 6, 2026
Hikone and Nagahama published notices clarifying that they were not organizers of the festival.
August 9, 2026
The organizing committee announced the cancellation of the festival.
August 10–11, 2026
Media reports provided additional details about incomplete administrative procedures and the status of the proposed venues.
August 12, 2026
ANN News published an interview with a former official photographer, providing new testimony about promotional preparations, mock fireworks shells and statements he said were made to him about the event’s finances and preparations.
The timeline shows an unusual contrast.
Promotional work, ticket sales and preparations involving vendors and other participants had moved forward for months.
At the same time, subsequent reporting indicates that some of the fundamental venue and administrative arrangements required for the event had not been completed.
What Can Be Confirmed So Far?
Based on the official website, public records, municipal statements and reports reviewed for this article, the following points can currently be confirmed.
What Is Still Unclear?
Several points remain difficult to establish from publicly available information alone:
- the complete membership of the executive committee
- the full organizational structure of the committee
- who formally operates Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO
- the exact legal or organizational relationship between the LABO and the executive committee
- the complete list of sponsor companies and organizations
- how much funding the executive committee actually had available
- where any major event funding would have come from
- to what extent actual fireworks shells, pyrotechnicians and other technical arrangements had been secured
We have intentionally avoided connecting individuals or organizations based only on matching names, social media profiles or circumstantial similarities.
The statements about available funding and the state of technical preparations described above come from the former official photographer’s account to ANN.
They should not be treated as independently verified financial or operational facts.
Where the public record does not establish a relationship or fact, this article does not present one as confirmed.
Conclusion: What We Know — and What We Do Not
The available public record provides a reasonably clear answer to the central question.
The canceled Lake Biwa Three-City Simultaneous Fireworks Festival was officially presented as being organized by the Lake Biwa Three Cities Simultaneous Fireworks Display Executive Committee.
The festival website identified Yasushi Yanaka as Chief Operations Officer, while the Shiga Prefectural Board of Education separately described him as the representative of the executive committee.
The governments of Hikone, Nagahama and Takashima were not the organizers of the festival.
At the same time, important details about the executive committee itself remain unclear from publicly available information, including its full membership and organizational structure.
The same applies to the exact structure of Yamata no Machi Okoshi LABO, the complete list of event sponsors and the financial arrangements behind the planned festival.
The new testimony from the former official photographer adds another piece to the picture.
It indicates that promotional preparations were taking place months before the scheduled festival and that materials bearing the names of all three cities had been produced and photographed.
At the same time, his testimony also raises additional questions about how far the actual fireworks and operational preparations had progressed.
The photographer himself told ANN that he was withholding judgment about the organizer and wanted to see how matters such as refunds were handled.
For that reason, the most accurate way to understand the situation remains to separate what official sources confirm, what witnesses say they experienced, and what remains unknown.
If additional official information becomes available, this article will be updated accordingly.
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