Summer Is Here!

Summer is here. Many counties are celebrating all sorts of their traditional events. In Japan, Tanabata (evening of the seventh) is nearing. On July 7th, many Japanese children write wishes on origami and tie them to a bamboo shoot. I used to do this tradition up to the age of ten or eleven. Tanabata is a legend originated in China more than two thousand years ago. According to legend, the Milky Way separates the lovers, deities Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair), and only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, they are allowed to meet.

In Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, they celebrate Tanabata the seventh of August. This is one of the famous Star festivals.

Hope your summer will be fun and memorable!