Apologies for the break in correspondence. End of term here in Japan (in August, I know. God love the poor students. Summer is almost over and they are only getting their summer holidays now. All 8 weeks of them. No going to California on J-1 visas and thrashing apartments for them). Summer here in Muroran is marked by matsuri's (festivals) of various sorts held hither and thither, which as far as I can make out, are essentially just an excuse for people to dress up, get drunk and let off fireworks. And that's just the children! (boom! boom!). Anyway, at the end of July Cian's nursery celebrated Tana Bata*, a festival that, according to Sanae, celebrates one of Japan's oldest and most enduring legends. Apparently, in a galaxy far, far away and a long, long time ago, the elves on the Death Star got together and made one true ring "to bind them all" and gave it to a young boy called Harry. Harry lived a special place where nobody ever aged until one day he ate a burned salmon and turned in to a swan and, eh, he dropped the ring which was eaten by, umm, a machine sent back in time to protect mankind and, eh, swans, from the future apocalypse that is due to take place in 2012. Or something. Sanae tended to gloss over the details and there are parts of the underlying history I'm not certain about, but that is generally the gist of it. And every year in July this remarkable story is celebrated by young children all over Japan who give thanks that they are not swans enslaved by machines growing up in the shadow of the Death Star.
*Remarkably, tana bata liertally translates as "bookshelf butter" and refers to the special bookshelf in the Japanese home where traditionally the butter is stored. And elvish rings of power.
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