皆さん、七夕祭りにおめでとう。Happy Tanabata Festival, everyone! 今日浴衣始めてきて浅草に行った。チョウキレイだった。 I wore a yukata (a traditional Japanese summer dress robe that every Japanese girl owns) for the first time today and went to Asakusa with my friends Midori and Laurel! I rather enjoyed wearing a yukata, quite to my suprise. We walked around the streets and near the temples for a while. We saw all of these colorful papers hanging from trees, posts, and lanterns, as well as these gorgeous hanging paper made lanterns with streamers. It was such a beautiful sight!
Apparently, the little papers were for good luck or goal completion wishes. What a cute idea!
On my way home, I was feeling the 祭り spirit, so I picked up some colorful origami paper, two little bottles of apple sparkling wine, and some sparklers from the 100 yen store and seven eleven.
Sarah seemed like she needed some cheering up when I got back to her apartment, so I'm happy I thought of the idea. （By the way: I'm currently staying with her until I move into my new place in Yoyogi!) I folded up the origami papers and punctured a hole at the top of each with a scissor. We had a celebratory drink and together we made our own colorful little 七夕wish papers that we hung outside! I love being crafty at times like these. (I give an indirect thanks to my art teacher mother :P)
Sadly we had to make a blood sacrifice to the mosquitoes lurking outside on her balcony while hanging them up... X_X My legs and my feet are so itchy. 痛い!
I've been thinking about the meaning of Tanabata tonight... Sarah told me a rough version of the Japanese tanabata folktale. Apparently , two stars fell in love, but they were banished to opposite sides of the milky way. But, for some reason, on this very night the stars are on the same side of the galaxy and they can be together, even if for a short time! So romantic. ^^ I miss Shane! <3 Even though he's halfway across the world, I still feel so connected to him by talking to him so frequently. My mind so often strays to romantic thoughts of us... *girlish sigh*
