Sister cities Honolulu and Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture have announced a series of events next year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War, including a display of fireworks from the Japanese city at Pearl Harbor.
The announcement was made while Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell was visiting Nagaoka, which has a century-old fireworks tradition, on Aug. 2 during a diplomatic and trade trip to Japan. The fireworks display will take place Aug. 15, the day Japan surrendered in 1945.
Both cities were severely affected by the war. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor led to the United States' direct participation in World War II, while Nagaoka was heavily bombed by the U.S. military toward the end of the Pacific War.