Crumbs to Crunch

Japan has many exciting festivals, which are excellent places to try some local delicacies. The most recent festival was Tanabata, or the Star Festival. Tanabata is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. The story behind the festival seems to vary, but the one I was told involved two stars who fell in love, but are only able to meet on the day of Tanabata. To celebrate this festival, paper decorations are hung in the streets and people write their wishes on wishing trees. A lot of these are made and written by children, and half the fun of Tanabata is reading the hopes and dreams of the local kids. For Tanabata I journeyed to Sendai, a city which is famous for its Tanabata decorations. I was overwhelmed by the intricacy of many of the designs. Most of the decorations are covered in hundreds of tiny origami, and it must take their makers hours to perfect their designs. After a couple of hours of strolling through the city and lookin...

Story-telling is the oldest and simplest form of entertainment. But in today's world of inescapable screens, flashing lights and loud music the humble story has been left behind. Nowadays our concentration can barely stretch beyond a half-hour soap on the telly. Sometimes I worry that we've all forgotten how to listen to each other. Just to sit and enjoy each other's company without special effects or distractions. But then a project like Milk and Cookies comes along and reminds me that, thankfully, I am wrong. Milk and Cookies is a story-telling initiative in Dublin. Once a month, the group meet in a historical building (once it was even in Dublin Castle!) to eat cake and share stories. We popped along to this month's meeting in the Dublin Writer's Centre, a lovely Georgian building in the heart of Dublin. There's an immediate cosy atmosphere as you walk in, with blankets and beanbags strewn across the floor. The room was packed, proving...