Japan Photo Journal: Osaka lights up with hope amid pandemic

Pedestrians are seen admiring ginkgo trees lit up on Midosuji Avenue in downtown Osaka during the annual "Midosuji illumination" event that began on Nov. 3, 2020. Rows of ginkgo trees spanning around 4 kilometers are illuminated using about 1.3 million LED lights in the 12th annual program. While many events have been canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus, the executive committee consisting of the Osaka prefectural and municipal governments, economic organizations and other bodies went ahead with the event as planned, with "light of hope" as its theme. The ginkgo trees will be lit up from 5 p.m. to 11p.m. every day until the end of December.

(Japanese original by Hitoshi Sonobe, Osaka Bureau)