Misawa Tanabata Festival

 

The Tanabata (七夕) Festival is a festival that is held all over the country every year. It is also called the Star Festival (星祭り, Hoshimatsuri). It is the celebration of the annual meeting of the two star lovers, Vega and Altar. According to the legend with Chinese origins and the Chinese Qixi Festival. It is said that the two stars are separated by the Milky Way and are only allowed to meet once a year. The festival is celebrated with beautifully decorated and colorful bamboo branches and ornaments. A tradition of the festival is also to write your wish on a slip of colorful paper called tanzaku. It is then tied to one of the bamboo branches. The belief is that the star lovers will grant the wishes tied to the branches. 

    I was fortunate to get to celebrate this particular festival in my town. It is interesting because it was either advertised to the base or held in tandem with the Misawa Beer Festival. There were about six booths in a line that all had various beers and ciders. Along with this, there were several booths that had street food, such as Yakisoba (Japanese stir-fried noodles), Takoyaki (fried octopus balls), and Yakitori (grilled meat on skewers). Also, desserts like bubble tea, Japanese street crepes, snow cones, and a bunch more. The smell was incredible. The heat was also intense. End of July/August tends to be the hottest month of the year in Misawa, so it was 90+ with high humidity. 

    Charles and I walked around the festival with some of his work friends for a while, enjoying the drinks and the food. It was a really good evening. 

    Toward the end of the night, everyone was tired of being out in the heat and ready to sit down and hang out somewhere. Instead of the bar, we ended up at Karaoke. I was really grateful that we had two Japanese speakers in the group because organizing 10 people for Karaoke was not easy. But we sang our hearts out for an hour, and by the time we were done, we were so ready for bed. After all, Charles and I were heading out to Sendai the next morning. But that's a post for another day.