Tanabata

Today is Tanabata, a day honoring the legend of the stars Vega and Altair in the Milky Way. Really it’s just a great excuse for a festival.

A sea of people came to Hiratsuka in Kanagawa Prefecture to wander the streets and look at the decorations.

But it’s not all decorations. There are games, too. Catching bright rubber balls from a swiftly moving stream is very popular with little kids.

Older kids (including me) like the fish game. And MJ is the proud owner of two tiny turtles that she won by scooping them from the water with a monaka, like a cup-shaped ice cream cone that droops when it gets wet.

Mmmm, festival food. This is okonomiyaki a cross between pancake and omelet. My favorite is the choco-banana but I was too busy eating them to get any photos.