Tanabata

Today is Tanabata in Japan, this is when kids decorate bamboo trees with paper chains, dolls, and write wishes on pieces of colored paper that they tie to the trees. The idea is that every year on July 7th (here we go again with exact scheduling...) two stars in the milkway cross paths for the day, then continue on with their journeys for another year. The Japanese call these two stars lovers, who have a scheduled date every year on the 7th. And little kids send out their wishes to these "star-crossed" lovers in hopes that they will help make them come true.