It is not a fire, so please relax. As part of heat measures for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics (Tokyo 2020), mist jets have been installed on the large canopy of the Palaceside Building west entrance — known as the "umbrella."
Tokyo is running a "Heat-Countermeasure Promotion Project toward Tokyo 2020" to "create cool areas that ease the heat people feel in high-profile districts around competition venues where tourists gather." Concretely, the main items are heat-shielding road pavement, heat-shielding paint on various facilities, and "fine mist" at eaves and the like. Companies that support the aim receive subsidies to install and manage the systems.
According to the Tokyo website, mist is already in place at Yurakucho Station plaza, Hotel Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba and elsewhere.
The Mainichi Newspapers, building owner with its head office in the Palaceside Building, raised its hand as an official newspaper partner of Tokyo 2020 and made it happen. The marathon that was to run along Hakusan-dori will be held in Sapporo, but the Nippon Budokan, venue for judo and other sports,
is nearby, so a mist system at the Palaceside Building was decided; works recently finished and a test ran on March 11 (the photo above is from that day).
The mechanism is simple. Twenty-eight special nozzles =photos right, below= are attached along the umbrella's outer edge and midsection (the parts circled in red in photos right, above), tap water is sent at high pressure, and mist is generated
and blown downward. It is not enough to wet the floor or ground. Fine mist, so that on a hot day you can cool off a little. It will not run constantly; under set conditions of weather, temperature and wind speed, it is scheduled for set hours from morning to evening.
In the March 11 test, strong gusts sometimes blew and, as in the photo at the end, the mist streamed upward, but when the wind eased it wrapped the whole area, as in the top photo.
The period is expected to be about June–September, some 90 days a year. It will not end with the Olympic year; it is to continue five years, through 2024.
