Tanabata Festival

In this picture, you see Carla and I by the wishing tree.

The Tanabata Festival (with a Chinese myth that was originally celebrated on July 7 of the lunar calendar, but the Japanese changed it to Western Calendar on July 7 with their version of the story), Sunday, July 5, 2009

This festival took place in the Institute's auditorium. The Hannan City International Exchange Circle sponsored this event. They set up the place. Unlike the Summer Festival that was more of a one-group event from the day before, this festival was more like how I imagined Japanese festival to be based on Japanese anime stories. Various booths were set up for participants to visit. Balloon-animal making booth, Japanese traditional toy playing booth, Japanese fan making booth, wish making booth with two trees available for hanging the wishes, and a children story-telling booth. The event sponsor also gave each participant ten or so tickets to get various Japanese snacks at the snack area. One can do a drawing game to get the big prize or the small prize/candy at two places in the snack area. I made a balloon puppy, played two Japanese toys, and made a Japanese fan. I pretty much preferred this type of festival, but I also enjoyed the Summer Festival very much, especially since the sponsor provided door-to-door service.

With Carla's gracious help, I wore yukata to the Tanabata festival. It means many of my colleagues took pictures with me.