Tanabata, The Japanese Star Festival

According to Wikipedia, Tanabata means "evening of the seventh." On the seventh day of the seventh month of the year (July 7), the Japanese celebrate by writing wishes on paper and attaching them to a tree, kind of like a bamboo Christmas tree. It's not a major holiday, and to my knowledge people don't get off of work. But we also had a small party at work with beer, snacks (dried squid, cooked squid, squid-flavored cheese... are you noticing a pattern here?), and sweets (in this case, little cakes filled with Japanese sweet potato.) When I asked why they celebrate Tanabata, one person said he didn't know, and another said the following: "There is the milky way, and the prince and princess are up there. Only on this evening of the year there is alignment so that the prince and princess can see each other." Someone else said "it's more of a holiday for lovers, like Valentine's day."
Afterwards, a few of us went out for drinks and dinner. At my request, we went to an Okonomiyaki restaurant (Okonomiyaki is like a Japanese savory pancake.) I ate (and posted about) Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki when I was in Osaka, but I discovered tonight that there are different kinds. The place we went served Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki, which has more vegetables in it; in my opinion, it was better than what I had in Osaka. So a little bit about the restaurant... there are these tables with large griddles in them, and you sit on the floor while your feet hang beneath the table. They turn on the griddle and bring your order to you, and you watch it cook in front of you. We had delicious Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, fried noodles, and some of the most delicious scallops I've ever eaten, among other things. Very tasty!
Okonomiyaki before and mid-way through being cooked.


Left: Fully cooked Takoyaki (pancake balls) and Okonomiyaki... kind of like Japanese pizza, you just add different sauces and toppings (BBQ sauce, mayo, dried fish, dried seaweed, etc.) Right: Mushrooms and sprouts sauteing in butter, and what I like to call the Japanese version of a grilled cheese. It's basically fish cake (or as one of my Japanese friends calls it in English, "fish homogenate") with cheese in the middle. It was good.

Left: My favorite dish of the night, fresh scallops sauteed in butter with sprouts. Scallops are probably my favorite meat, but in the US they are very expensive. Not so in Japan! Right: More lab mates at the table next to ours eating Okonomiyaki.