七夕

Next week is 七夕 (Tanabata).
Click here to read my short FAQ post about “Tanabata”.

The shopping street near our house has begun to decorate for it a couple days ago. They put up bamboo trees, paper lanterns, and other decorations. The local school children will write their wishes on a piece of paper to be tied to the trees.

Here’s a picture I took of the decorated street:

We’ll put a bamboo tree on our porch next week, as we do every year…and my kids, my wife and I will attach papers with our wishes written on them.

My wife and I always write the same thing: that our kids will have a happy, healthy life.

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Yesterday at lunchtime, a comedian who is starting to become popular was scheduled to perform at a store not too far from where we live.

We planned to go watch him…but we all woke up too late to get there on time, so we went to our kids’ favorite shopping mall instead.

But it started me thinking of famous people that I’ve met on the streets of Tokyo.

I met and talked to:
乙武 洋匡　(Ototake Hirotada) (an author who became a school teacher, who was born without arms or legs),

Eric Singer (the American drummer who was in many bands including KISS),

Bruce Kulick (the American guitarist who was also in KISS),

Carmine Appice (another American drummer. He’s called “Carmine Sensei” in Japan)…I helped design his website also,

Eddie Van Halen,

Sean Lennon (John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s son),

and 琴欧洲 Kotooshu (the Bulgarian Sumo wrestler).

Have you ever met a celebrity?

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We have a pet turtle.

His name is 亀吉くん (Kamekichi).

It’s fun to watch him eat. I took a video of it (it’s not a real clear video and he’s not eating as ferociously as he usually does 😦 Maybe I’ll take a new video of him another day.)