Fireworks video from Taiwan is viral as the Tokyo Olympic inaugural ceremony
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A video of a colorful firework display on a tall building is being spreading on Facebook with a claim that it is the visuals from the inauguration ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics 2021 that is happening in Tokyo, Japan. The video which is a 2:46-minute video was shared on Facebook by a Chandigarh-based radio jockey and has received more than 7,000 views currently. However, it has been found that the video is from the capital of Taiwan, Taipei. The occasion is of the New Year’s celebrations which is considered to be an annual event there.
SCREENSHOTS
Several social media users have shared similar claims on Facebook and the claim is viral in the online media.
TRUTH
This is a New Year celebration in Taiwan, not Tokyo.
Using the InVid extension by Google Chrome, several key shots were grabbed from the viral video to conduct a reverse image search. This lead to a video that was shared on Instagram with hashtags like “#happynewyear” ,”#2021″, “#Taipei” etc.
Later, several keywords were used to search on YouTube and a video showed the fireworks in ‘Taipei 101’. Taipai 101 is Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper and the video showed the New Year celebrations in the city in 2021. Taiwan News uploaded the original video on YouTube. Taiwan News is a news portal and a former English Daily. They uploaded the video on the 31st of December, 2020. The fireworks display that went on for 5 minutes was a tribute to Taiwan’s frontline medical workers according to the reports by Taiwan news. As per the report, a five-minute fireworks display was conducted to welcome the arrival of 2021 in Taipei 101, Taipei. This year, the show displayed 16,000 fireworks as a tribute to Taiwan’s frontline medical workers.
The video of the New Year’s celebration at ‘Taipei 101’ tower has also been uploaded by several media houses on YouTube.
An article tilted “In Pictures: COVID mutes New Year’s Eve as world ushers in 2021” by Al Jazeera was found online that reported about the New Year festivities around the world amidst Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. ‘Arrival of 2021 celebrated like no other, with many people bidding farewell to a year they’d rather forget’, read the byline of the article. A similar image as that in the viral video was shared by Al Jazeera in their article and was captioned – “Fireworks detonate from the Taipei 101 building during the New Year’s celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan”. The credits for the image was attributed to Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo.
The Tokyo Olympic 2020 is however being conducted at the newly constructed National Stadium in Tokyo and it doesn’t resemble the Taipei 100 tower in any aspect. While looking into the Tokyo Olympics opening day images, it is evident that the video in the viral video is not from Taipei.
The actual visuals of the firework show from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony was report by Reuters in their YouTube page.
Getty Images posted an image online, the caption of which read – “Fireworks light up the sky over the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in Tokyo, on July 23, 2021.”
The official Facebook page of Taipei 101 posted a live video that was recorded live on December 31, 2020, during the New Year’s celebrations.
A comparison of the Taipei 101 and the National stadium further states the fact the viral video is misleading and not from the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Thus, it is clearly evident that the six-month old video of New Year’s celebrations in the Taipei city of Taiwan was falsely being spread online with a claim that its from the inaugural ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics 2021. The 5-minute firework at Taipei 101 skyscraper was a tribute to Taiwan’s frontline medical workers. and was held on the 31st of December 2020.
