Tanabata

Today is "Tanabata" or "Star Festival Day" in Japan, where the Japanese celebrate all things romantic (unlike White Day which is quite simply a commercialised obligation to kiss ass) and its a party to which Seibu and Tobu are not invited! One of the girls from work, Yamasaki-san, sent me this explanation of Tanabata;

July 7 is called Tanabata or Star Festival in Japan. It is not a national holiday but most Japanese celebrate it. They cut up colored paper 15cm long and 5cm wide. The paper is called Tanzaku. They write defferent (sic) words on the paper, such as " Tanabata," "Star Festival" and "Milky Way". Children may write what they want to become and people write whatever the wish. They hang these pieces of paper on bamboo. Also the bamboo is decorated with defferent colored papers.

This festival came from China long ago. Orihime fell in love with a young man called Kengyu. Being madly in love, she couldn't concentrate on her weaving. So, they were separated. Orihime was made to go to one side of the Milky Way. Kengyu was made to go to the other side. They were permitted to meet only on one occasion a year. This is July 7. They celebrate their meeting on this day.

We've had a bamboo Tanabata tree at our station for the past couple of weeks (gave a bit of life to the usually dull and clinical platform) and all the local school-kids have been pinning their hopes up on it - kind of like the old "Mikey loves Sharon" we used to write on the toilet walls at school. Or not.