Adventures in Japan: Week 45: Summer proper!

Well, apparently Summer OFFICIALLY starts at the end of rainy season. How do you know when rainy season is over?

Well, first of all, it stops raining.

mostly.

And it gets hot.

this is outside the nurses office so the kids know where to put ice to cool off. (the answers are 2,3 and 5)

And, of course, the cicadas come out.

I've heard it asked, what did they think before they figured out it was bugs? "Oh, yeah, every summer the trees start screaming"?

And before you dismiss that too casually, remember that for years, the scientific world thought that worms came from the sky during the rain.

I'll be honest, the Korean cicadas were much louder. And if Dani's stories are anything to go by, China's even more so.

Still, if I was to be a ninja, I think I'd prefer it in the summer. NO problem sneaking up on someone with THAT racket going on.

Let's see, what happened? Well, I got to see another school practice for their 6th grade singing!

this school has 5 classes of 33 students.

And they actually WENT on Friday, I know this because the principal came up to me and said "6th grade is going to perform! In city hall! you can't come."

And then I pouted.

This week was the Tanabata festival! Otherwise known as the Japanese star festival.

this is Osaka, you can't actually SEE stars...

Anyhow! So, the story *I* know goes like this.

Goddess of the sky, in charge of...cows? Pretty sure it's cows. Falls in love with a mortal. (no idea why) And wants to marry him. Head god finds out and is like "nu-UH, you can't marry that, first of all, you're a GODDESS. SECOND of all, you'd slack. I know you."

And she's very upset at this, of course. "Nu-uuuuuuuh, I'd do all my work! It's not fair, I love him why do you HATE ME?!"

So the head god finally relents "Well, FINE. But only if you PROMISE to do ALL your work."

And she's very happy and marries him.

And promptly slacks off.

The head god notices this the moment the sacred cows start trampling his garden. He gets very upset and confronts the goddess. "WHAT did I tell you?! I said you couldn't handle both!"

so he banishes them to opposite sides of the sky never to see each other again.

EXCEPT on the 7th day of the 7th month, the milky way becomes a bridge for them to cross and meet for one night. If it's not cloudy. Which is really iffy, because it IS the tail end of the rainy season.

Most festivals (including this one) lately seem to be during the weekday. And many during school hours. So I went to Tanabata on Wednesday night, because I knew there was no rain.

It was fun! There were lots of people wearing Yukata.

including kids.

prefect timing on that shot.

the dogs too!

And lots of lights.

I didn't steal one.

these were wishes/prayers

they had people standing at each pool with lighters 'cause they went out so often.

temple proper.

so pretty!

long rows of pretty lanterns.

and there were games, of course.

catch the fish

the easier version, catch the bouncy ball

ring toss

And food. That we waited in line for HALF AN HOUR.

it wasn't even that long of a line, it just didn't MOVE.

The traditional Tatabana decorations are hanging paper and wishes on bamboo shoots.

Better pictures of what they had at schools to celebrate.

we do Christmas trees, this makes perfect sense.

plus it's a writing exercise!

We were going to go back on Friday, when they collect the wishes and set them on fire to get them up to heaven, but it rained. So we stayed in and made carrot cake.