Toshiba is the official sponsor of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration. The iconic countdown to midnight was played out on TOSHIBA VISION Times Square, the LED screen atop One Times Square in the center of New York, triumphantly welcoming 2014 at the world’s biggest New Year party.

Along with the 60-second countdown, TOSHIBA VISION also screened live music performances from Miley Cyrus, Macklemore, Blondie, and Icona Pop, as well as the Toshiba Hourly Countdown sponsor’s content every hour, and even a unique New Year’s greeting from astronauts currently on board the space station: Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, and Koichi Wakata, in collaboration with NASA.

This year also saw the first “Japan Countdown” event on stage.
Ahead of the official countdown event, Times Square hosted a special New Year’s Eve countdown for Japanese residents in New York. TOSHIBA VISION Times Square screened a unique countdown animation with “dancing” characters created by maestro female calligrapher Masumi Narita as the time ticked down to midnight in Japan on December 31st (10:00 a.m.EST). Visitors to the Japan Countdown also received TOSHIBA VISION 2014 Calendars. This was the first such event to be held at the same venue as the official Times Square party, and the visitors celebrated the New Year back home with Japanese women in festive clothes gathering in front of TOSHIBA VISION.

Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebrations
This countdown event is the biggest in the world, with over a million people gathering in Times Square and a television audience around the globe of more than a billion. One Times Square, where TOSHIBA VISION is installed, is the stage for the famed “ball drop,” where a crystal time ball descends in 60 seconds, starting at 11:59p.m. EST. Simultaneously, TOSHIBA VISION will be hosting the traditional 60-second countdown.
The 1-million-strong crowd gathered at Times Square will chant out the countdown in a deafening roar, climaxing with confetti exploding into the air. The partygoers will embrace each other as “Happy New Year” appears on the screen with the final “0” of the countdown, their celebrating voices ringing out all over New York to welcome the New Year.