Origin of Star Festival in Japan!

Hello

My name is Nao Adamson.

I am a Japanese essayist writing about

international marriage with my English husband.

Last weekend, on 7 July was the date for

Tanabata or Star Festival in Japan.

If you would like to know how we celebrated the festival,

please have a look at the following site:

Tanabata, Star Festival in Japan!

http://ameblo.jp/naoadamson/entry-11291948944.html

Today, I would like to tell you the origin of Tanabata.

I heard that it is linked with a Chinese folk tale.

Let me introduce the story.

It was translated into English by our students.

Story of Tanabata

A long long time ago, Tentei, the god of the sky,

had a daughter called Orihime.

Everyday she wove cloth for gods and goddesses.

Tentei was worried about her because

she worked everyday and did not nothing but weave.

So he introduced her to a young man

lived on the other side of the Milky Way.

His name was Hikoboshi

and he was a cow herder.

When they met each other,

they fell in love immediately,

and spent all their time together.

As a result, all the cows became sick.

Also, the clothes of gods and goddesses worn out,

but there was no new cloth to make more.

This made Tentei very angry,

so he stopped Orihime from meeting Hikoboshi anymore

by taking her to the other side of the Milky Way.

This made the two lovers so sad

that they couldn't work.

Tentei also felt sorry,

so he decided to let them meet each other

once a year on 7 July, if they worked hard.

Afterwards, they worked as hard as before

and enjoyed seeing each other only once a year.

*******************************

How did you spend Tanabata this year?

Tanabata, Star Festival in Japan!

Hello

My name is Nao Adamson.

I am a Japanese essayist writing about

international marriage with my English husband.

7 July is the date for the Star Festival

called "Tanabata" in Japan.

People usually decorate bamboos

with colourful paper craft.

It is a little bit difficult to display

real bamboos in our university,

so we made plastic ones

on a whiteboard like this.

▲ Click here to see the expansion ↑

We usually make a wish as well

and write it on coloured paper.

Then we put it on the bamboo.

However, since there is no space

around the plastic bamboo area,

I hung the wishes on the washing line.

▲ Click here to see the expansion ↑

I hope your dream will come true

English cupcake for afternoon tea

Hello

My name is Nao Adamson.

I am a Japanese essayist writing

about international marriage with my English husband.

Last March, when my darling and I went to England

I learned how to make cupcake

from my English mother-in-law.

This is the cake which I made under her supervision.

Ta-dah.

▲ Click here to see the expansion.

After I came back to Japan,

I thought that I would like to make them by myself.

Then a few weeks ago, the chance appeared.

Our English colleague invited us for afternoon tea.

So I decided to bring my home-made cupcake.

This is the cake which I baked.

The top looks a little bit burned, doesn't it?

▲ Click here to see the expansion.

But you don't need to worry about that

because it is usually covered with decoration

as you can see the photo below.

▲ Click here to see the expansion.

I put butter cream and fresh a cherry in the middle.

Isn't it beautiful?

Do you make cupcake?