On July 4th, I attended the 2010 Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. This festival is the largest Tanabata festival in the Kanto region of Japan, and is 4 days long. It begins on the first Thursday of July. Tanabata for much of Japan is on July 7th.
The festival, which is also known as the Star Festival, celebrates 2 legendary figures, Orihime (the star Vega) and Hikoboshi (the star Altair). The Milky Way, a river of stars, separates these two lovers, but they are allowed to meet only once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month. For more information, please read about it on Wikipedia.
I attended on a very hot and sunny day. It was about 32 degrees, so quite uncomfortable in the sun. But it was great weather to get some pictures. The festival is held on the north side of Hiratsuka station, and was very easy to find. Just follow the crowd! Enjoy the pictures.
Just outside Hiratsuka station, it's very crowded. The festival was very nearby.
There are very colourful decorations above the crowd.
Here's Kintarou!
More colour and more crowds.
There are many food vendors at the festival. I had jagabataa (potato and butter).
Here are more decorations to enjoy.
There's a large variety of decorations.
At the festival, there were several marching bands from universities. Here's the first one.
Here are two girls in front of their university's marching band.
And here's a third marching band.
A closeup of some decorations.
A final look at some more decorations. It was very colourful.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Have you been to this festival before?
Jay Dee in Japan 