Thank you for joining our tour of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace on Jul. 6th. We had 22 guests. They were from Australia(3), Brazil(2), Canada(5), Germany(1), Sweden(2) and U.S.A.(9).
Even though in the middle of the rainy season, it did not rain and was luckily cooler than usual. Our guests enjoyed taking pictures of historic sites covered by verdure.
The Star Festival called “Tanabata” based on the legend from China is held on the night of Jul. 7th in Japan.
The legend is about a young couple who were separated on each side of the river. They worked hard to be allowed to meet each other once a year. Nowadays, the couple eventually changed into two stars laying along the Milky Way and people celebrate it by writing down their wishes on narrow long paper slips. Slips are hung on bamboo branches, so that their wishes will change into smoke and reach the stars to come true. These bamboos are set in many places and make people delight even in the rainy season.
( by Rei )