When learning numbers in Japanese, it becomes clear that counting plays a very important cultural role. It’s not so much for arithmetic but more for identifying things and people in a way that is in line with the orderliness of the culture.

There are two counting methods: one is the ichi, ni, san system, which can be used independently to count things, and the other is the hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu system, which can be combined with counters at the end of a word like a suffix. This is where it becomes tricky because there are numerous counters: -mai for thin, flat objects like paper or records: ichi-mai, ni-mai, san-mai; -hon (-bon, -pon) for long, slender objects like pencils or bottles: ippon, ni-hon, sam-bon; -gai/-kai for floors of a house or building: ikkai, ni-kai, san-gai. And those are only some of the examples.

Whew! Count me out!

But there’s one set of numbers that the Japanese can count on for fun — 7/7/07, or Tanabata in Japanese. The Tacoma Art Museum teams up with the Asia Pacific Cultural Center to host the Tanabata Festival Saturday, July 7, 2007, at the Tacoma Art Museum.

Tanabata, which means “Seven Evenings,” is a Japanese festival that takes place on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Add that’s it’s 2007 and it’s off the hook.

According to Japanese legend, the Milky Way, a river of stars that crosses the sky, separates the lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi. They are allowed to meet only once a year. The festival celebrates the time each year when the two stars, Altair and Vega, meet in the night sky. In celebration of this star sex, the Japanese fire up dancing, poetry, and writing wishes on paper that are then hung on trees.

The Tanabata Festival at the Tacoma art Museum arrives in the form of Kabuki theater, print-making and origami projects, and Japanese cultural treasure trunks.

Whew! Count me in!



[Tacoma Art Museum, Saturday, July 7, 1-5 p.m., free with admission ($6.50-$7.50), 1701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, 253.272.4258, www.TacomaArtMuseum.org]