Tanabata, or the star festival, is held on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year. This is the day when two mythological star crossed lovers are permitted to meet each other. For the rest of the year they are separated by the Milky Way.

The festival in Maebashi is little more than some cute decorations made by elementary schoolers and a big excuse for vendors to come and line the streets selling octopus balls, donuts shaped like Anpanman and Doraemon, chocolate covered bananas, and Pokemon balloons. But it attracted a lot of people. Quiet little Maebashi was filled to the brim, elbow-to-elbow people jostling each other.

Many women and some of the men come to Tanabata in yukatas. I desperately wanted a yukata. Yukatas are the lighter (and much cheaper) summer version of kimonos. At first, my prospects seemed dismal. A short survey of the stores revealed that yukatas cost about over 10,000 yen, which didn’t include the obi (waist sash), bow, or geta (sandals). I don’t know why yukatas are so expensive. Piecewise, they’re very simple. I’m pretty sure my mother could whip one up in a few hours out of a nice bed sheet. Then I heard that I could buy a yukata at the Uni Qlo, the Japanese version of Old Navy, for about 2,000 yen. My friend suggested that we buy our yukatas at the second hand store. The biggest second hand store in the area was part of a chain called Off House. Unlike the US, non-profit (or charity) thrift stores are extremely rare in Japan. Most of them “buy used gear” and sell them for profit. Off House sometimes has a department called, Hard Off. I’m not sure what this means, all I know is that it sounds like a combination of “hard on” and “jack off”. Anyway, this Off House is located on the main highway downtown and has a wide selection of rather fantastically stylish clothing. Since the Japanese don’t really like to buy used things, we Western scavengers get to benefit from this wasteful habit. My friend mentioned to her students that she would be buying a yukata second hand and they were mortified.

At Off House I found a packaged set of yukata, obi, and bow for about 1,200 yen. (I bought a yukata!) I spent another 1,000 yen on getta at Uni Qlo. (I gotta get geta.) I had to get the flat men’s tatami getta rather than the clunky women’s wooden getta because my feet are too long and too wide for most women’s shoes in Japan.

With some instructions from the internet, my friend wrapped me in the yukata. It looks easy but it actually requires some pretty complicated pulling, folding, tying, and tucking. After a couple botched attempts, we managed to make ourselves look acceptable and wandered out into the town.

Seeing two tall, blonde, Caucasian ladies shuffling around in yukatas and getta was quite a surprise for the festival attendees. We ran into our students many times and they were delighted to see us in the Japanese clothes. Some of my students were wearing yukatas. One of the most cheerful and adorable girls from one of my elementary schools came prancing up to me. Both she and her friend were wearing matching black yukatas. There’s really not much cuter than giggling, little Japanese girls in yukatas. Especially since the English limited conversation went like this:

Me: Are you having fun at Tanabata?
Girls (giggling and looking at each other in confusion): …..
Me: Are you happy?
Girls: Happy!!!!