Yesterday, July 7 was Tanabata (七夕), a Japanese star festival which combines Japan's local legend and custom and China's origin Qixi festival. According to the legend, the Milky Way separates lovers of Orihime (star Vega) and Hikoboshi (star Altair), and they are allowed to meet only once a year on July 7.
Accordingly, we believe our wishes come true at Tanabata if we write down a wish on a slip of a paper and decorate it on bamboo trees.
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| Bamboo tree with a lot of wishes in my apartment |
A lot of festivals are held all over Japan and people go out by putting yukata, casual summer kimono. Definitely I also made a wish. Seeing others' wishes is also interesting such as "wish all family be healthy", "wish passing an exam", "wish salary be increased", "wish he/she also loves me", etc. Hope our wishes will come true...
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| Famous Kaminari (thunderstorm) gate |
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| Senso-ji Temple |
On the special day Tanabata, I had a chance to visit Senso-ji temple(浅草寺) in Asakusa(浅草), which was established in the 7th century and nowadays seen as one of the popular local temples in Tokyo. Along the long approach of the temple, there are many Japanese souvenir shops which attract a lot of tourists all over the world.
Together with prayer, I tried to draw omikuji, namely sacred lot (paper fortune) after so long. The result was....highest and excellent fortune!!! I selected the highest fortune one or two times in my all life so far. I believe it is a foretaste of good things as I selected it on Tanabata!
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