This is a picture of the courtyard of my school. The leafy items you'll notice in front of the first-floor windows are bamboo branches. On July 7th, a minor holiday is celebrated in Japan called "tanabata". On either side of the milky way are two stars: one star represents a prince (can't remember his name) and the other is a princess (can't remember her name, either). As tradition has it, this prince and princess are in love, but because they live on opposite sides of the milky way, they can only meet once a year - every July 7th. So before that day, Japanese people write prayers and wishes on colored slips of paper and tie them to bamboo branches. On the day of July 7th, the branches are burned and the smoke carries their prayers to the sky where the prince and princess will receive them and perhaps honor them because of their own happiness in being united on that day. They don't make a huge deal out of this holiday here, but I thought it was a sweet story.