Festival Preparations

Japan has a festival in July called Tanabata. Children write their hopes and dreams on colored strips of paper. They tie the papers and other decorations onto branches from bamboo trees. At the end of the festival, they stand on a bridge and cast the branches into the river.

Many people believe that the wishes will be carried away by the river and come true.

Today 5th grade students were helping 2nd grade students attach decorations to the branches. They will display the branches at school until July 7th.

What are your hopes and dreams?

Milky Way

On Sunday night I saw the Milky Way. It looks like a milky-white river across the sky. Have you seen it?

I asked many Japanese friends about it. Most of them have never seen it. Many of them said that we can’t see it in Japan.

From big cities in Japan it is impossible to see because there are too many lights. Even in Ise, which is not a big city, it is so bright we can only see a small number of stars.

I was at Osugidani (大杉谷) in the mountains, so it was very dark and we could see the Milky Way. The air was very fresh and there were many stars.

A few friends thought that we could only see it during July. They thought this because of Tanabata festival.