Fussa celebrates annual Tanabata Festival
FUSSA CITY, Japan -- Japanese folk dancers perform a traditional dance during the 61st Annual Fussa Tanabata Festival Aug. 5, 2011. Ikuo Kato, Fussa City mayor, dedicated this year's festival to the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which plagued northern Japan March 11. Local Fussa residences and Airmen from Yokota Air Base, Japan, carried shrines called Mikoshi during the festival, also known as the star festival. According to Chinese legend, the two stars Altair and Vega, usually separated from each other by the Milky Way galaxy, meet up in the night on the same day each year. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Stacy Moless)