Shin Umeda City is back with its annual showcase of ornate and colourful Tanabata decorations from Sendai, the Tohoku city where the Star Festival is a particularly joyous occasion. Sendai’s Tanabata decorations often feature kusudama, or spheres made of paper flowers, atop washi paper streamers up to five metres long. The decorations can be found around Shin Umeda City’s entrance (next to the Umeda Sky Building), as well as along the ‘Showa retro’ shopping street at Takimi Koji, and are displayed from June 1 to August 8.
Takimi Koji will also host other Tanabata-related festivities during this period. Customers dining at restaurants in the facility between June 1 and July 7 receive paper strips to write wishes on, which will be hung on bamboo trees displayed within the shopping street. There will also be a Tanabata festival during July 5-7 from 4pm to 9pm daily, with the programme including a children’s festival, a wish-writing area for setting wishes afloat on a pond, and live music performances. Note that this event may be moved in the case of rain or stormy weather.
