Today is July 7th and it is “Tanabata” in Japan.
What is Tanabata?
You can read detailed expalanation of Tanabata in Wikipedia.
It’s not a holiday but it’s more like a festival.
It’s from the legend that the milky way separated two lovers and they are allow to meet only once a year, TODAY!
How tragic!! 😕
There are always food linked to holidays and festivals in Japan.
So I started to wonder,
What should I eat for “Tanabata”?
I did some searching and it seems that people eat “Somen(そうめん)” on Tanabata day.
It’s thin noodle looking like this.
There are many different ways of eating Somen but cold Somen is simple but tasty in the summer. Very Japanese style food.
But why “Somen”?
There are many different stories… So I’m not sure which ones to believe.
But one thing for sure is that Japanese people eat Somen a lot in the summer.
Somen is summer food.
So maybe that’s one of the reasons??
I’ve lived in Japan for long and I didn’t know Somen is linked to Tanabata.
It says that maybe it’s not so famous customs to eat Somen in Tanabata.
But now I know, I’m going to ask Jay tonight to cook Somen.
He’s in charge of making dinner tonight.
(Read this blog to know why he’s in charge of cooking tonight. 😎 )
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Gaminifaction applied to make boring house work more fun
Okay so eating Somen is not that famous customs.
Then what is famous for Tanabata?
Starting around June, you see strips of color papers hanging on bamboo trees if you are around in Japan.
That’s for “Tanabata”! 🙂
People write their wishes on a strip of paper and hang it on the tree for their wishes to come true. I don’t think I actually have ever written one myself.
This is from where I live. We have these two bamboo trees on the first floor for people to write wishes. So many wishes! I hope they all come true.
This is mainly for kids so I didn’t write one. But my wish will be this.
Omoide House @Kyoto to come true ASAP!!! 😀
Oh, I really hope my wish comes true!
Google is also celebrating Tanabata with this image on the top page.
How cute!
When we open Omoide House in Kyoto, I am going to prepare a bamboo tree for Tanabata so our guests can hang their wishes!
I can’t wait until then! 😀
Okami 🙄