The Palaceside Building's annual Tanabata decorations that color the summer are up again in the atrium of the first-floor and first-basement central corridor. Through Saturday, July 6.
The Palaceside Building Meitokai (chair Hiroaki Okada, president of Sakae Co., which runs Tea Room Hana), a volunteer group of restaurants and shops, plans it each year as a "Tanabata Festival" so people can feel the season and enjoy a traditional popular rite. It has become a fixture of the building's summer.
At the foot of the east and west "Stairs of Dreams" in the atrium, small pipe cages hold LED lights suggesting the Milky Way, and ten potted bamboos stand between the cages
; visitors write wishes on tanzaku and hang them. On the first day's noon they still looked sparse, but some were already writing eagerly =photo right.
From the atrium ceiling hang twelve large chochin in orange, yellow, blue and purple, lifting the mood.
Meitokai is also running a "Tanabata Festival Grand Lottery." Stamp-rally cards are handed out at member shops; one stamp per visit of 500 yen or more, and five stamps earn one garapon draw. Draws are June 28 (Fri) and July 5 (Fri), each in two sessions: 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m.
The prizes are lavish. As in the table below, gold — Dyson air-purifying fans (2); silver — Nintendo's latest game consoles (3); more than 1 million yen in total. Stay tuned!!
