Yukatas, Dragon Boats, and 1000 Cranes

On August 7, they celebrate Tanabata, the Festival of the Stars, in Sendai, Japan. While I was a missionary in Sendai, we had an investigator whose father owned a kimono shop. He made both my companion and me special yukatas (summer kimonos made out of cotton) which were hand painted with designs like the beautiful paper decorations that they hang above the streets for the Tanabata Festival. Sister missionaries don't usually wear kimonos, but we got special permission to wear them for only one hour. Here we are in the yutakas that were made especially for us. Pictured below from left to right: Me, our investigator, my companion Linda Stoddard, and a member of the Sendai Branch who went with us.

We had only walked one block when a man rushed up to me and said, "Hold my baby, so I can take your picture with her." I wonder who he thought I was.
After the second block, we were interviewed by a radio station. After the 3rd block, a reporter from the local newspaper took our picture, and after the 4th block a television station photographed us and we ended up being on the TV news. I have no idea why all the media was so interested in us, but it sure was fun.

Here's our photo as it appeared in the newspaper. Translated it says, "The Casual Kimono Style is very fitting. In paper and bamboo. . .they're pretty, aren't they?
Here are more photos of the decorations that go on for 8 blocks. Above is Sister Stoddard talking to some girls. In this photo you can see how long these decorations really are in comparison to the people below.

Did you notice the Coca Cola sign?

About the same time that Tanabata was in Sendai, the missionaries went with some of the members to Matsushima (it means Pine Islands). We rode on boats that were shaped liked dragons as they wended their way between many beautiful pine covered islands.

The photo below shows how Matsushima looks with all of its tiny pine covered islands.

After I got home from Japan and I was living in Billings, Montana, the owners of a Japanese restaurant were celebrating the 1st birthday of the their 1st child. A friend of mine was invited to the birthday party, so I decided to make a present that most people in Japan will never get. I folded 1000 cranes in one week's time as a birthday present for the child. I could fold 100 cranes in 6 hours if I wasn't interrupted, so you can see that it was a BIG project. Since I had to finish in one week, I was working every spare moment that I had and then I strung them together in Tanabata fashion. It took over 50 hours to make. I was still putting this together one hour before my friend was to go to the party. As you can tell, I had an oriental living room when I lived in Billings.

One thousand cranes are a symbol of long life and good luck. Jon told me that when the mom saw the gift she started crying and was totally surprised to receive such a gift. She didn't even know me. I just wanted to do something that would be totally unexpected.

(For those of you who know me, you know how I like to do unusual things, and giving something anonymously is even more fun.)