Simulated Video From 2015 Viral as ‘Tokyo Olympics Fireworks Show’

A viral social media post is being shared with a claim that it shows a display of fireworks in Japan where the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was supposed to be held. However, we found that it’s a simulated video which can be traced back to 2015.

THE CLAIM

The video is being massively shared on Twitter and Facebook. In addition to claiming that it shows fireworks meant for the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympics which were to be held in Tokyo, the claim also mentions that the fireworks were displayed at Mount Fuji because they could not be stored until 2021.

“The fireworks were prepared in Tokyo for the opening ceremony of this year's Olympic Games because COVID-19 could not open the Olympic Games, but the fireworks and firecrackers could not be stored until 2021, so the fireworks of the Olympic Games were displayed at this time. Please enjoy the Olympic fireworks set off under the beautiful Mount Fuji. (sic),” the claim reads.

WHAT WE FOUND

There were two questions which we considered in order to debunk the viral claim:

• Were fireworks displayed in Tokyo to mark the day 2020 Olympics were supposed to start?
• If yes, is the video in question from the supposed display of fireworks?

First, we ran a Google keywords search using the terms “Fireworks to mark the 2020 Olympics” and found several news reports stating that fireworks were displayed across Japan to mark the Tokyo Olympics, which would have started on the day if the games had not been put off by one year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the video in question could not be found in the videos shared on the internet. So, we fragmented the video into several keyframes using the InVid Google Chrome extension and followed it up with a reverse image search.

This directed us to the same video posted on YouTube by a channel called hiramu55bocaboca on 1 December 2015.

According to the description of the video, it was created to mark the registration of Mt. Fuji as a World Cultural Heritage site. We also found that “fwsim” is a website where one can create their own firework simulations.

Clearly, an old video from 2015 is being shared to claim that it is from the event on the day when the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were supposed to start.

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