On Monday, May 25th, we held a firefly viewing event called "HOTARU NIGHT" at the garden waterway that flows through the center of our university campus, inviting members of the local community.
This year's event, the sixth of its kind, was limited to one day due to safety concerns related to bad weather, but approximately 400 people, including students and local families, attended.
In addition, Department of Social Design in Faculty of Art and Design presented a video projection and candle display featuring fireflies as a motif, and distributed original lanterns created by third-year student Yuna Kato of the same department, adding to the festive atmosphere of early summer on campus.
One participant, who was visiting with their family, commented, "We participate every year, and it has become a family tradition. It's a rare opportunity to see fireflies up close, so we definitely want to come and watch them again next year with our children."
Since 2018, our university has been releasing firefly larvae and the freshwater snails that serve as their food source into the garden waterways on campus every year. This past March, we released them together with local residents and have been carefully raising them ever since. We will continue our efforts to maintain the environment so that the fireflies can establish themselves in this location and that we can see even more fireflies dancing in the air next year.
[Facilities Department, Facilities Division; Industry-Academia Co-innovation and Research Promotion Headquarters]
