Sendai star festival draws large crowds despite fresh COVID wave

Kyodo -- Aug 07

An annual star festival in the northeastern Japan city of Sendai, known for its hundreds of brilliant hanging decorations in shopping areas, commenced Saturday with the biggest crowds expected since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sendai Tanabata Festival adds to the list of major summer events being held in Japan following cancellations or restrictions on spectators in previous years due to COVID-19, although the country is now facing its seventh wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus.

Organizers expect around 2 million people to visit the three-day star festival, which was canceled in 2020 for the first time during the postwar era and held with reduced decorations in 2021. ...continue reading

Aug 07 (日テレNEWS) - 仙台の夏の風物詩「仙台七夕まつり」が3年ぶりにコロナ感染拡大前とほぼ同じ規模で開かれています。  ...continue reading