YOKOHAMA STAR☆NIGHT 2026 Supported by Bank of Yokohama is the Yokohama DeNA BayStars' annual summer event, held every year since the club's founding season in 2012. For 2026, the event was structured as a two-chapter story connecting the Minato Mirai area with Yokohama Stadium, under the theme "BLUE BIRD — Hope, Bound for the Sky." Chapter 1, held July 27 at Rinko Park, earned the club's first-ever Guinness World Records™ title for the largest aerial display of a nonfictional character formed by multirotors/drones, using 3,024 drones.
Background
Since its inception in the BayStars' founding season of 2012, YSN has been held annually under the concept that "each person shining like a star lifts up the team and the city." Special event uniforms have been produced every year since 2013, and Bank of Yokohama enters its 13th year as event sponsor in 2026. For 2026, the club moved the event beyond Yokohama Stadium for the first time, staging a drone show across the Yokohama sky out of a stated desire to further energize the city.
Creative Idea
The event theme is "BLUE BIRD — Hope, Bound for the Sky." The official theme statement opens with the idea that people have always looked up at the sky and the stars, and describes how the hopes of those who love Yokohama converge into a "blue bird" that takes flight as a symbol of the future. Chapter 1 (Minato Mirai) centers on a boy who admires the BayStars and believes in the players; the hope he finds merges with the wishes of fans and people who love the city, giving birth to the BLUE BIRD, which then flies onward toward its next stage at Yokohama Stadium. Chapter 2 (Yokohama Stadium), subtitled "Hope, Bound for the Sky," is positioned as the story's finale, connecting back to the narrative born in Minato Mirai.
Execution
The event was structured in two chapters. Chapter 1 took place in the Minato Mirai area at Rinko Park, featuring a show combining Japan's largest simultaneous drone flight (3,500 drones) originally scheduled for Sunday, July 26, it was ultimately held on the Monday, July 27 backup date, starting at 19:50, free of charge, co-organized with a Yokohama-area tourism/MICE promotion committee. That same day, the club attempted a Guinness World Records title — for the largest aerial display of a nonfictional character formed by multirotors/drones, requiring the figure to be sustained for at least 20 seconds — using 3,024 drones.
Chapter 2 took place at Yokohama Stadium across the three-game series against the Hanshin Tigers on August 4–6, 2026, with a post-game show combining approximately 600 drones with music, lighting, video, and fireworks, open to same-day ticket holders and planned to proceed regardless of the game's outcome. The drone count was increased by 100 from the prior year's 500.
Results
On July 27, at the Rinko Park show, 3,024 drones earned a Guinness World Records™ title for the largest aerial display of a nonfictional character formed by multirotors/drones — the club's first-ever Guinness World Records title.