Tanabata Festival: Misawa City

Friday, July 23: Misawa Tanabata Festival

The largest Tananbata festival is held in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture. I’d eventually like to go there and see it when Talia can walk and when we won’t have to carry so much food for both children. But for now, Misawa will do.

The family and I went on Friday night. We initially wanted to wait until Saturday or Sunday, but there was a chance of rain so we decided not to put it off. I was quite glad that we went to the Hachinohe Tanabata Festival the week prior. Misawa is a smaller city so the festival and its decorations, though interesting, reflected it. We did appreciate meandering through the streets during nighttime because the weather was cooler. Japanese summers are so humid.

I enjoy going to street fairs for people watching. It takes a lot of patience and restraint on my part to maneuver the stroller through crowds of people. Attendees walked around with food on (sharp) sticks or smoked cigarettes, so I’m always weary of getting into a scuffle if someone pokes or burns me or my children. I’m not as adventurous anymore and am less likely to try street food because I think about how long the food has been out, cooking cleanliness, etc. I know, such a damper, but I despise getting food poisoning – and I’ve had my fair share of that. I do have my favorites, usually some type of desserts, but avoided purchasing anything.

We arrived early and left early, another indication of a family with youngsters and getting older. The Misawa Tanabata Festival, like many other Misawa festivals, took place outside the main base entrance, contained music on a stage in American Park, and extended along White Pole Road.

Tanabata lights

Hmm ... Is this what they think of the USA/Americans

Typical street stall selling seafood and veggies

Takoyaki (octopus and veggies cooked into spheres)

Overpriced light toys

Kingyo-suki (goldfish dipping)

Object of the game: catch a goldfish without breaking the thin paper spoon

Local high school girls dressed for festival

Young girls dressed in traditional yukatas

Tanabata Festival: Hachinohe City

Tanabata Story (short version)

The Japanese Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival) is based on a Chinese legend and elements of a Japanese myth. The festival traces its origins to a legend that a Cowherd Star (Altair) and Princess Weaver Star (Vega), were lovers separated by the Milky Way. Vega and Altair met and fell in love, which pleased everyone. However, Vega spent so much time being with Altair that she began to neglect her weaving work. This upset her emperor father and he decided to separate the two on opposite sides of the Milky Way, to prevent them from meeting except for once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month.

Nowadays, children and adults write their wishes on narrow strips of colored paper and hang them, along with other paper ornaments, on bamboo branches placed in the backyards or entrances of their homes. They then pray hard that their wishes will come true.

Traditionally Tanabata is held on the evening of July 7. However, cities usually celebrate Tanabata for three days, sometime between July 7 and August 7.

Painting depicting Tanabata Story

Sunday, July 18, 2010: Hachinohe Tanabata Festival

Hachinohe Tanabata Matsuri was a three-day event that usually occurs on the third weekend in July. Taxi drivers at Misawa Train Station told me that Friday night’s opening parade kicked off at 18:00 but Saturday and Sunday’s festivities occurred between 12:00 and 20:00. Kyle was out of town on Friday and I was contemplating taking two children to a festival by myself because it was advertised as a 5-minute walk from Hon-Hachinohe train station. Yeah right!! Off topic: Japanese roads are not on a grid system. They often wind around the natural landscape and lead to dead-end streets (as I’ve learned the hard way).

Anyway, I decided to wait until Sunday for Kyle so we could go as a family. I realized I received bad info from the taxi drivers. Booths started setting up around 12 noon. When we arrived at 13:00, not much was around, so while waiting for the matsuri to begin, we escaped the sun’s heat by ducking into several department stores, discovered an Indian restaurant, let kids play, and watched a Japanese hippy fashion show, and visited a beetle exhibit.

I cannot believe that this area of town is not mentioned in any of the Misawa Air Base leaflets because there are quite a few department stores all conveniently packed on one street. The next time we come here on a non-busy day, I’ll have to draw it in my journal and take photos for map directions. (I've been taking photos and writing down directions for other military families that inquire because on-line maps are in Japanese, which is no help to a foreigner.)

Oversized Tanabata decorations, food vendors, and children’s games aligned both sides of four city blocks. By 16:00, blockades closed neighboring roads, traffic bottlenecked, and the streets bustled with young children dressed in yukatas and happi coats. In the 5+ hours we were in this part of town, we did not see ANY other Americans. Kyle was the ONLY hakojin in sight.

Upon returning to work on Monday, Kyle asked his co-workers if any of them attended the festival and none of them even knew it happened.

Large Tanabata decorations hang from bamboo poles

Cino department store getting ready

Tanabata wishes

Taking a break at an arcade

Jumbo beetle exhibit

Beetle (couldn't read the Japanese identifier)

Matsuris are synonymous with meat on sticks. Pinwheel sausages.

Child labor is a must for family businesses

Clogged arteries and a heart attack waiting to happen

Grilled squid on a stick

Grilled fish on a stick

Desserts (chocolate covered bananas) on a stick

Balloon vendor setting up shop

Posing with SuperBaby

Tanabata Matsuri in full swing