Preparations are underway for the planned opening later this week of the Tanabata festival in Sendai, northeastern Japan. The event, whose history stretches back more than 400 years, is one of the most popular summer festivals in the Tohoku region.

The Sendai Tanabata Festival is held every year in August. It's known for its thousands of colorful streamers that decorate the city's shopping arcades.

On Monday, local elementary school students and shop owners brought their handmade decorations to a main arcade.

This year, the three-day event will start on Saturday. It's the first time in three years that the scale is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels.

People used bamboo poles to hang streamers and strips of paper from the arcade's roof. They had handwritten their wishes on the strips of paper.

A boy said he is happy that he can put up a decoration he made with his classmates. He went on to say: "I wrote on a strip of paper that I wish the coronavirus would go away. I want to play without a mask."