In Hiratsuka, Japan, the Tanabata festival is held during early July
each year for several days.  Typically, the first day contains a
parade.  For 2005, what days will this festival be held?  Even better,
is an event schedule (including parades, etc.) available for this
year's festival?

Hello genji-ga,

Using Google's translation tool I was able to determine that the
Hiratsuka Tanabata/Star Festival is scheduled for July 6th of 2005
7:00 p.m. and ends 10 days later at 9:00 p.m. Please follow my search
strategy on how I was able to find this information.

All the best.

~ czh ~


SEARCH STRATEGY

I chose Google's <Language Tools> from the main page and I translated
the Hiratsuka main page.

://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en
Translate a web page:
http://www.city.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp/

Result:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.city.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&c2coff=1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Click on <Star Festival enshrining> on left menu
Result:
----------------------
It holds the 55th Shonan ?? and others handle Star Festival enshrining
in July 6th - 10 days!
However, 6 days in the afternoon the ?????????????????? of o'clock of
7 (the heavy weather discontinuance) from
You start. 
----------------------

It is possible to decipher the information to show that the Star
Festival will be held starting July 6, 2005 and will go for 10 days.

I also went back to main page and chose <Event Calendar> which
provided a monthly schedule of events. Looked for July program.
Clicked on photo and got new page.

-----------------------

Shonan ? and others handle Star Festival it enshrines, furthermore detailed 
One time of the summer when the expression where the Hiratsuka waiting
is special is shown. ...
- Schedule July 6th of 2005 (the water) in the afternoon o'clock of 7
eve festival - 10 days (day) in the afternoon o'clock of 9 < eve
festival in case of heavy weather discontinuance >
- Designates the meeting place Hiratsuka station north mouth as the
center city all
- You inquire, the tip commercial sight-seeing section (the telephone 0463-35-8107)

-----------------------

This page gives the same information about the festival dates. It
starts July 6, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. and ends in 10 days at 9:00 p.m.
Although the machine translation is very rough, the dates can be made
out without too much confusion.

---------------------------------------------

http://www.geocities.jp/senribb/
Miura who loves the Tanabata Festival 

This fan site confirms that "the 55th Tanabata Festival in Hiratsuka
will be held from July 6(Wed) through 10(Sun) in 2005."



Next I searched for <tanabata> to make sure that it translated to
"star" so that I could confirm that Tanabata Festival is the same
thing as Star Festival.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2283.html
Tanabata, also known as the "star festival", takes place on the 7th
day of the 7th month of the year, when, according to a Chinese legend,
the two stars Altair and Vega, which are usually separated from each
other by the milky way, are able to meet.

Because the 7th month of the year roughly coincides with August rather
than July according to the formerly used lunar calendar, Tanabata is
still celebrated on August 7th in some regions of Japan, while it is
celebrated on July 7th in other regions.

One popular Tanabata custom is to write one's wishes on a piece of
paper, and hang that piece of paper on a specially erected bamboo
tree, in the hope that the wishes become true.

Colorful Tanabata festivals are held across Japan in early July and
August. Among the biggest and most famous ones are the Tanabata
Festivals of Sendai in August and Hiratsuka near Tokyo in July.
 
------------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata
Tanabata

Hi genji,

This was all I was able to locate regarding the dates of the festival:

"The Tanabata Festivals are most famously held in Japan, especially in
the cities of Sendai (Aug 6-8) and Hiratsuka (July 7). A few days
before the festival, people traditionally write their wishes or poems
on strips of colourful paper. They are hung on the branches of cut
bamboo and put out in the garden on the night of the 7th..."

http://www.bigeyedowl.co.uk/Festivals-summer.htm


Tanabata Star Festival 
First date 7 July 2005  
"One of the most popular Star Festivals is the Shonan-Hiratsuka
Tanabata Festival, which is held in the city of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa
Prefecture over several days around 7 July."

http://whatsonwhen.com/events/~35884.jml#dates

There is also contact information (including email) at the above site,
if you wish to write and inquire in detail about the festival.


I hope this is helpful.

Best regards,
Rainbow

The official days for the Hiratsuka Tanabata festival change each
year.  The HIratsuka city web site has the days for 2005 listed, but
it's in Japanese.

http://www.city.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp/tanabata/index.htm (Japanese)

There is a small section in English, but it doesn't contain up-to-date
information.  For example, the following page in English lists the
past dates for the Tanabata festival:

http://www.city.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp/tanabata/e_past.htm (English)

It doesn't, however, have the 2005 dates (55th Tanabata), which are
what I'm looking for.

I assume that the festival will take place from 6th to 10th July
(according to the first line with the light blue background).

7 ?    July

6 ?    6th day of month
10 ?   10th day of month

However, I would have to use a dictionary to give you a precise
translation of these lines.

http://www.city.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp/tanabata/index.htm

From July 6th to 10th

Opening Fiesta : 6th 7 PM

Hello genji-ga,czh-ga,

It is not for 10 days , there might be something wrong with the translation ,
the festival ends on 10th July.

Correct Information :
Start date : 6th , Time: 7 PM
End date   : 10th , Time : 9 PM

Thanks