Watch Workers Unravel the Giant Red Lantern at Asakusa’s Popular Kaminarimon

On April 17, workers installed a new giant red lantern at the Kaminarimon, the famed “thunder gate” of the Buddhist temple Sensōji in Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood, replacing its predecessor, which had occupied the entrance of the popular tourist spot for seven years. Normally a much celebrated occasion, the event lacked its usual fanfare as organizers canceled festivities due to the ongoing global health crisis. It took a crew nearly an hour to hang the massive landmark, which measures 3.9 meters tall and 3.3 meters wide and weighs in at 700-kilograms. Fully unveiled, the lantern displays the characters 風雷神門（fūraijin-mon; the gate of the god of thunder and wind）when viewed from behind and 雷門 (kaminarimon; thunder gate) when seen from the front.　

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