Today is 七夕 (Tanabata) in Japan.
The name of this holiday means “seventh evening” because it falls on the seventh day of the seventh month (July 7) … it originally came from China (where, I believe, it’s celebrated a bit differently than in Japan).
In the Chinese lunar calendar, the seventh day of the seventh month falls in mid-August, so it’s not Tanabata there yet.
In Japan, people write a wish on a piece of special paper and tie it to a bamboo Tanabata tree … and the wish is said to be granted on this special day.
There is a back story about two stars in the sky that are a prince and princess who are in love but are forbidden by their familes to be together (kinda like Romeo and Juliet).
But they can meet only once a year … the seventh day of the seventh month.
At Tokyo Disneyland, visitors to the amusement park can write their wish on Tanabata paper that has mouse-ears and hang it on Mickey’s Tanabata tree.
Tokyo Five 
Tanabata is one of my favorite holidays in Japan.
I love going from bamboo tree to bamboo tree writing (and reading) wishes 🙂
Is it rude to read other people’s wishes during Tanabata?
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Do you write more than one?
No, it’s not rude to read them.
Can you read Japanese?
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I remember my grandmother sending our daughter an exquisite, gorgeous tanabata doll some 30 years ago. It had a bamboo tree with the teeniest origami cranes on it. What a fun holiday. I hope you’re not too hot in Tokyo.
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Oh yeah! It’s very hot in Tokyo now!
Rainy season has ended and now it’s sweltering and humid here!
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