How Japanese Fireworks are Made & Launched ONLY in JAPAN

Japan makes some of the world's best fireworks including record breaking giant sized shells like the Yonshakudama! We'll head to a prestigious fireworks factory in Akita to see how they're made.
The process includes 1) Milling 2) Granulation 3) Loading 4) Pasting
The secrets of the trade are passed down from one generation to the next, family businesses that have been producing fireworks since the Meiji era. The larger the firework shell, the longer it takes to grow the stars or black pellets needed. They start as ceramic balls the size of a sesame seed and grow day by day, taking a month or more to make a Shakudama 3cm star.
The Shakudama is a 18.5kg / 19 lb beast that you'll see launched at festivals outside Tokyo and urban areas. They get larger than that! The ni-shakudama, san-shakudama and yon-shakudama will literally blow you away with it's 750m launch height and width.

00:00 Start
02:00 Giant Firework Sizes & Details
02:42 World's Largest Firework Shell, YONSHAKUDAMA
04:20 Fireworks Factory, How it's Made
08:48 Loading the Firework Shells
15:18 Setting up the Launch Site
19:47 Japanese Fireworks Culture & History
22:54 Fireworks Launch Event
27:05 Large Shell Fireworks Launch

The ONLY in JAPAN Animated Opening was created for John by D'ART Shtajio https://dartshtajio.com/

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ONLY in JAPAN ® is a registered trademark - All rights reserved. John Daub has been a reporter for NHK World TV since 2008 and YouTube creator & producer of the ONLY in JAPAN ® series building a community of over 1.6M. Thanks for watching!
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