Colorful streamers adorn Aichi Prefecture town for Tanabata Festival

People walk beneath colorful streamers displayed for the Ichinomiya Tanabata Festival in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, on Thursday. The four-day event, which will run through Sunday, is hailed as one of the three major Tanabata star festivals in the country. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the annual festival has been scaled down, with the parade canceled and hours trimmed to 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. But, as the bon odori dance performance is also taking place alongside the festival for the first time in three years, the event has brought some pep to the city.