Tokyo's LED "fireflies"

Tim Hornyak:

The Tokyo Hotaru Festival 2012 is a modern twist on the age-old Japanese love of watching fireflies along waterways. Some 100,000 blue LED light bulbs floated down the Sumida in imitation of the insects, long celebrated in haiku and other verse.

It’s a gorgeous sight, I’m sure. But of all the coverage I’ve seen on this, not one has mentioned why Tokyo doesn’t have the real thing anymore. We should be restoring the river’s health, not merely emulating it. 

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