Tanabata Festival

Here is the short version of the Tanabata story from the Savvy Tokyo website:

 The legend goes that Orihime (a weaving princess) and Hikoboshi (a cowherd) met and fell truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, and eventually tied the knot. But love—being the only thing on their minds—shifted their attention from work to each other. Making them—in the eyes of others—lazy and demotivated. Orihime’s father, the King of the Heavens, furious at their negligence of other essential affairs, separated them, sending the two to opposite sides of the Milky Way. Orihime became the star Vega and Hikoboshi, the star Altair.

Heartbroken, Orihime cried her heart out day and night, which didn’t help much in getting her back on track, as her father had hoped. Moved by Orihime’s tears, the king agreed to allow the couple to meet only once a year—on July 7. 

My town holds a four day Tanabata Festival every year. This popular festival always falls during the rainy season, but a big part of it is held near the train station in a covered shopping walkway called Ginza. It’s a family friendly festival with all the decorations, food booths, children’s activity booths, and a place to meet friends. Some people wear yukata - light weight summer kimono wear. I walked around the festival last Sunday and took a few pictures.