Making Peace with the Dead: The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival

 

Figure 1: Fireworks display for the 2025 Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival (Source: Taito City)

 

Today marks the commemoration of the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival (Figure 1).  This annual festival is celebrated in Tokyo, Japan on the last Saturday of July. It has existed for over 250 years, although celebrated off and on during that time for various years.  Today’s blog post will address the origins, purpose, and changing values of the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival.

 

The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival was originally called the Ryogoku River Opening ceremony.  The first event occurred in 1773 and was initiated by the 8th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune.  This military leader of Japan’s reign had been fraught with challenges.  The year before over a million Japanese perished as a result of extreme famine and a cholera epidemic.  The survivors were fraught with various emotions a year later, leading the shogun to take action to alleviate their concerns and fears.  He felt that a fireworks festival would be the best course of action, and he chose this specific time of the year for two reasons.  First, it coincided with another festival, the opening of the rivers or new ports, which brought about blessings to fishermen and people who used the rivers as ceremonies and dedications to the river and water gods were provided.  Second, this time of the year was also when the Japanese would honor their dead.  Tokugawa Yoshimune combined the two events, declaring this the best time to appease the spirits of the dead who perished over the previous year and calling upon the water and river gods to bless the people as they moved forward post-tragedy.

 

Fireworks were chosen as a means of celebration because they were an important part of Japanese culture as fireworks originated in Japan.  The large fiery displays also required people to come together to watch them, promoting a sense of togetherness and community.  Initially, a small number of fireworks displays were provided, but over time the number and types of displays expanded.  Rich noblemen competed to provide the best fireworks displays for the people, which aided them in increasing their social status among the people. 

 

For a brief time the fireworks displays were banned out of concerns for the hazards they caused in burning the homes and wooden structures of Tokyo.  Rather than abandon the tradition altogether fireworks manufacturers developed safer fireworks.  This allowed the fireworks festival to continue.  This also led to even greater innovations, including the creation of fireworks that the general public could use.  Child safe fireworks, such as the sparklers, were developed and available, which also meant that the nobility did not need to compete for social status through this festival.  This led to an expansion of who could participate in the fireworks celebrations, leading to greater number of people attending and providing their own fireworks displays. 

 

The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival continued over the decades, briefly pausing ss various national and international conflicts occurred.  Despite these interruptions the festival grew and evolved as Japanese culture evolved.  In the 1970s the festival was rebranded to its current name, and within a few decades the reinvigoration of the fireworks competition took place.  Now it is fireworks companies that engage in the competition, which they use as a means of introducing new fireworks products and displays.  Japan has also opened this festival up as a tourism marketing opportunity, encouraging foreigners to engage in the festivities.

 

Works Cited

Japan National Tourism Organization. Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival. n.d. Electronic. 12 May 2026.

Jimura, Takamitsu. "Events and intangible cultural heritage." A research agenda for event impacts. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. 117-127.

Liu-Brennana, Damien and Tadao Yoshidab. "Fireworks on the Sumida River." Journal of Pyrotechnics (2009): 3-15. Print.

Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau. 48th Sumida River Fireworks Festival. 26 July 2025. Electronic. 12 May 2026.

Endangered Language Profile: The Ngan’gi Languages of Australia

Indigenous Australians who speak Ngan'gi Languages.  Pictured here are a group of men preparing to dance.

 

Presently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognizes over 7000 languages spoken across the globe.  They also predict that half of these languages will be extinct by the end of the 21^st century.  There are various reasons for why certain languages go extinct, which in large part relate to power dynamics among social groups.  While some may not consider the endangerment or extinction of a specific language a big deal it actually is a sign that not only has a language disappeared but the culture and people associated with it.  This is why several people and organizations are working to preserve and revitalize endangered languages.  This, however, is not always easy, as the case study of the Ngan’gi languages of Australia demonstrates.

 

The Ngan’gi languages are spoken among Indigenous Australians in a small geographic region of Australia, specifically around the Southern Daly River.  There are several debates concerning these languages, however.  The first of which is how many native speakers exist.  According to some sources there are as many as 150 speakers, while others claim there are only 26.  The breadth of difference pertains in large part to how the languages are classified.  Some believe there are three distinct languages: Ngan'gikurunggurr, with the most speakers; Ngen'giwumirri, with less than 50 speakers; and Ngan'gimerri, which is extinct as there are no living speakers.  While it is clear that there are people speaking at least two of these languages the classification of these as languages is where much of the problem lies.  Some linguists believe that these are dialects, not distinctively different languages.  Depending on how one classifies them that affects not only the census counts but also how to move forward with revitalization efforts.

 

Revitalizations efforts are absolutely necessary because the Ngan’gi languages are critically endangered.  This means that there is only one generation of speakers, and once they are gone the language will be extinct.  None of the Ngan’gi languages traditionally have a written language, meaning they are passed down orally from one generation to the next.  This also makes it difficult to preserve the language since no written records means no one can learn them without direct contact with a native speaker.

 

Nick Reid, a linguist, has moved forward with some projects that he hopes will help preserve the language.  In the 1980s he created the first dictionary for the Ngan’gi languages, which has been refined slightly by two other individuals over the years.  In his dictionary he identifies phonological (sound) differences between the two spoken languages (Ngan'gikurunggurr and Ngen'giwumirri).  He has also identified differences in verb construction, with one language having more verb tenses than the other.  He has also documented other differences between the two languages, as well as provided instructions on how to pronounce the sounds within each language. 

 

All of this information is recorded and available to the public through the website he created.  There individuals can access the suite of information concerning the scholarly research on these languages, as well as the language learning tools required to speak it (as interested).  He has also provided videos of native speakers, who share cultural and personal stories with listeners.  It is unclear if this method has had much success among the communities wherein Ngan’gi languages are spoken, but it is a step in helping save this language from extinction.

 

Works Cited

Laliberte, Marissa. "The 15 languages that could soon be extinct." 15 March 2018. World Economic Forum. Electronic. 12 May 2026.

Reid, Nick. NGAN'GI LANGUAGE. 2018. Electronic. 12 May 2026.

—. Ngan'gikurunggurr, The Daly Languages (Australia). n.d. Electronic. 12 May 2016.

 

Drawing Upon Nature: How Aye-Ayes are Helping Resolve Engineering Problems

 

Figure 1: Dr. Ehsan Dehgan-Niri working with an aye-aye on his engineering project 

There is an age old idiom about how necessity is the mother of invention. While this is true in many cases one can never know or predict when inspiration will strike.  This was the case for Dr. Ehsan Dehgan-Niri, Associate Professor of Engineering out of Arizona State University (Figure 1).  While he and his young son were watching National Geographic programming Dehgan-Niri learned about the aye-aye, a unique primate who uses the percussive foraging technique to locate its meals.  Dehgan-Niri quickly realized that this technique employed by the aye-aye could be used by engineers to resolve some of the problems they face in their work, leading him to engage in a study with primatologists at the Duke Lemur Center.  This blog post will explain more about this collaboration and how it is an exceptional example of applying anthropology.

 

Aye-ayes are the world’s largest nocturnal primate.  They are also odd in various ways.  They most closely resemble their primate ancestors in that they do not look like a typical primate at all, leading to them actually not be classified as such when they were originally discovered.  The aye-ayes unique characteristics include very large ears and one of the largest internal ear structures of all known primates.  They also have an elongated middle finger that they use to locate their preferred foods: insects and grubs.  Using a technique known as percussive foraging the aye-aye employs a combination of tapping on wood with their elongated finger and their large external and internal ear structure to listen for weaknesses in the wood to indicate where insects and grubs are located.

 

Dehgan-Niri observed these activities in the National Geographic programming and realized that there were applications for the aye-ayes percussive foraging technique in engineering.  Engineers are responsible for building structures or composite parts in mechanical apparatuses (e.g., engine parts for cars or aircraft), and it is incredibly important to ensure that there are no weaknesses in the structures or parts.  If there are the results can be disastrous. Presently, there are destructive and nondestructive methods for locating weaknesses, but they all carry risks or are only effective in certain circumstances. Dehgan-Niri wanted to explore the potentials for the aye-aye’s techniques being used, in an altered and human manipulated way, to resolve these issues. 

 

Dehgan-Niri, his colleagues in his field of engineering, and those at the Duke Lemur Center worked together to first study the aye-ayes to fully understand their percussive foraging technique.  This benefited the primatologists as they learned that the aye-ayes do not just tap on the wood.  They also glide and rub their fingers across the wood.  The three means actually produce different types of sounds that the aye-ayes listen to in order to better understand the types of weaknesses in the wood, which better enables the aye-aye to identify spots where insects are versus not.  This makes their technique more effective and saves time.  These are also useful for the engineers.

 

Dehgan-Niri and his engineering colleagues then replicated the external and internal ear structures of the aye-aye by 3-D printing them.  They then went about a series of experiments to determine how these 3-D printed models may be used to nondestructively locate weaknesses in structural components.  They have made some strides in the process, expanding nondestructive options for their work, but they are continuing to refine their results to create something that can be used in the field.

 

Ultimately, this study demonstrates how creative solutions to complex problems are necessary to drive innovation.  It also goes to show that nature can provide some of those solutions if one is willing to consider those options versus just writing them off as impossible or ludicrous. 

 

References

Burkhart, Matthew. "Tapping Into Nature." Lemurs Magazine February 2026: 56-57.

Nemati, Hamidreza and Ehsan Dehghan-Niri. "Biomimetic investigation of the impact of the ear canal on the acoustic field sensitivity of aye-ayes." Applied Acoustics (2023).

Research and Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Laurence Kirmayer, Anthropology of Psychiatry and Culturally Responsive Mental Health Practice

 

Dr. Laurence Kirmayer

 

Recently there has been a trend towards anthropologists going directly into applied work, identifying any number of problems and seeking solutions to them.  There remains a large number of anthropologists who go into the academy and are researchers, but that does not mean that the research is conducted simply for the sake of learning and gaining new knowledge.  Several researchers conduct their research for the purposes of applying it to resolve specific problems.  This is very much the case for Dr. Laurence J. Kirmayer, a Medical Doctor of Psychiatry and Professor at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

 

Dr. Kirmayer earned his Bachelor of Science from McGill University. He continued his studies at McGill, earning his medical degree in Psychiatry.  He stayed on as a researcher, where his initial research focused on mental health issues among immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous populations.  He was particularly concerned with understanding how and why these populations seek (or choose not to seek) mental health services, their views on mental health, and the effectiveness of cultural consultation services within mental health treatment practices.  These interests required the use of anthropological methods, neuroscience, and language competencies to fully understand the problems faced by these communities and identify and implement real solutions to best serve their needs.  These interests eventually led him to become the Director of the Culture and Mental Health Reseach Unit at the Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry for the Jewish General Hospital.  In this position he continues his research on culturally responsive mental health services among local populations across Canada as well as broadly through an understanding of how mental health is understood and pursued cross culturally on a global scale.

 

Ultimately, Dr. Kirmayer has taken what he has learned and applied it to the creation and/or leadership of various organizations.  In 2001 he founded the National Network for Aboriginal Mental Health Research.  This organization, which is a partnership between Aboriginal groups and scholarly researchers seeks to train researchers focused on aboriginal healthcare and prepare Aboriginal individuals within the healthcare fields.  He also founded Cultural Consultation Service, which provides initial mental health assessments and resources to immigrants, refugees, and Aboriginal individuals. 

 

He most recently founded the Multicultural Mental Health Resource Centre in 2021.  This is an organization that provides information to patients and their families, politicians, medical professionals, and other interested parties on the best resources and practices for holistic mental health practice and treatment plans.  This organization brings together scholarship, medical practice, social sciences and cultural studies, language competency, and more to provide culturally responsive mental health and other health care services.  Patients can use these services to find mental health and medical practitioners, while medical professionals can access resources (e.g., trainings, professional development sessions, intermediaries, and more) to help incorporate culturally sensitive and responsive practices into their work.  Politicians can also access the wealth of data and information housed by the organization to help inform them on appropriate legislation.

 

Dr. Kirmayer’s work is well recognized.  He is presently a Fellow of several prestigious organizations, including the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the Royal Society of Canada.  In 2024 he was bestowed upon the honor of being a Distinguished James McGill Professor at McGill University.  He also remains active in publishing his research, as well as serving as the editor-in-chief of Transcultural Psychiatry, a journal produced by the World Psychiatric Association.

 

Works Cited

Council of Canadian Academies. "Laurence J. Kirmayer, FRSC, FCAHS ." 16 March 2016. Council of Canadian Academies. Electronic. 11 May 2026.

Kirmayer, Laurence. "Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD." 2026. McGill University, Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry. Electronic. 11 May 2026.

—. "Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC." 2024. Lady Davis Institute. Electronic. 11 May 2026.

—. "Laurence Kirmayer." 2026. McGill University, Department of Psychiatry. Electronic. 11 May 2026.