New York welcomed me back by thwarting my plans to visit both The Teepee and Brooks BBQ. I was a little miffed. I have a whole list of things I have to do and I had fully expected to be able to cross a couple of things off.
But since this blog is about Japan, I can't go on for too long about New York. Besides, I really do consider Japan home now.
Obviously, I have a lot of catching up to do blog-wise. I have no excuses, just honesty. Honestly, I forgot. Here is one of my favorite things that happened recently, at a Japanese American Friendship Group Meeting:
This is a horrible picture. Those of you who are good at picture-taking, look away. But, it was the only one I had to illustrate the Star Festival- aka: What is All The Junk On That Tree?
The Star Festival, "Tanabata," happens once a year, and be warned, it's pretty depressing. The two stars are Altair and Vega (though they have different Japanese names). Basically, they are married and very much in love, but her father (the Star King) used the Milky Way to separate them because he's petty and kind of a jerk. I mean, her father introduced them, and then he got all offended because she wanted to spend time with her husband and gave up the beautiful weaving she was doing. She was only weaving because she didn't have a personal life.
Anyway, Vega pleaded with her father to let her and her husband see each other again. He was so moved that he allows them to meet once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th month. Generous soul, isn't he?
Here's the kicker, though. If it rains, they can't meet. It rained this year. So, my first time celebrating the Star Festival was bittersweet.
So, what does all this have to do with a bamboo tree covered in paper? Well, let me tell you...
For this festival, it's traditional to make origami decorations and hang them from bamboo, along with your wishes. Here is yet another poor picture of me strugglinng with my papercrafts. Who knew folding paper and cutting with scissors could be so complicated, eh? The woman to my left is Hiroko, who is very funny and awesome, and very good at this sort of thing, as Japanese woman tend to be.
It was a lot of fun, and my lack of skills provided much amusement for Hiroko.
The wish I wrote was that I wished that Blake would make HAC on the first try. He did. Star Festival for the win (never mind the hours and hours of hard work that Blake put in).
So at the end of the meeting, we all had large, beautiful, bamboo branches carefully decorated with pretty crafts and wishes.
But then we had to take those large, beautiful branches with us for the car ride home. We'd packed five people in a car and in those tiny, Japanese things, there isn't really room for half a forest. It was a long, itchy ride home.
This is our group picture. We take one every month at the end of the meeting. It always comes out a little wonky because we never have anyone to take it so we have to rig a table and books to steady the picture.
Every month is an adventure, and even if the pictures don't come out very well, the memories will hopefully stay clear in my head. Since I don't have a memory projector, though, you'll have to make do with my crappy photos.
