Julia Gabrick and Samantha Schaefer
August 14, 2011
In July, Naoko Ikeda, the owner of Blooming Art, a Japanese arts and crafts store in the Japanese Village Plaza of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, had an idea. She cut a stalk of bamboo from her home garden and set it up in her store along with a sign explaining a Japanese tradition to her customers.
As part of the annual Tanabata Festival, people write their wishes on small pieces of paper and tie them to bamboo trees. Later, the wish-laden bamboo are thrown into a river or brought to a shrine where they are set on fire. Once this is done, the wishes are said to come true.
A sampling:
I wish that I will get stellar grades and acceptance to legit college.
I wish for a husband before I turn 40.
We wish for world peace!!!
Poverty should not be a problem anymore.
I wish everyone's wish comes true.
I wish everyone good health.
I wish for traveling the world with my camera.
I wish for worldwide peace, for the economy to get better.
I pray for people less fortunate than I.
I wish for family unity, success with my studies and career and to finally know what I want and who I want to be.
Good health for my family and never-ending guidance, protection and blessings from God.
I wish for my angst to be resolved in a positive way.
I wish I could be on Broadway someday soon.
Dear magical tree, since the latest is a confirmed "nope," please eventually send a girl my way that is cute and nice. Bonus points if she doesn't bleed me dry.
I hope to make the baseball team in my tryouts and get straight A's in 7th grade and in the rest of my life.
I wish my lactose intolerance would go away and for one day to have a home of my own.
I wish for good health and safety for my family and my host family.
I wish for guidance and clarity and the wisdom to make good choices in my life.
I hope I can stay in America.
I wish that I find a stable job I enjoy doing and that I can support my parents.
I wish OPRAH would come back! Unemployment isn't as fun without her.
May my nephews and niece find jobs that make them happy.
I wish for LA! And the job I interviewed for today.... And more money. And a house for my cats to play.
Wish for a good economy, clean environment and love!
I wish for my friend to make a healthy recovery.
For all my friends and family happiness and for Japan to continue getting support from everyone.
I wish for someone know me for who I am.
I wish to get a decent job very very soon!
I wish for the ozone hole to be closed and to bring world peace and to end world hunger and for a Sim 3 PC.
I wish that my sister's baby will grow up big and strong, and that my brother will find some direction in his life, and that my parents find peace knowing that their children are taken care of.
I wish for our business to start doing better. I also wish we can move into our building very soon. Thank you!
Pray my mom is cancer free.
I wish there was no sickness. I wish people weren't sick. I wish one of my grandparents didn't die. I wish that my family could have a big dinner together.
I hope she likes me.
I hope that I always remember to be kind to those that I love.
I hope our marriage lasts forever.
I wish for Japan to thrive and recover from the earthquake and tsunami.
No more wars and peace on earth.
Josh and I wish for the cutest, most sincere, most kind-hearted little girl on the planet!
For things to change for the better.
I wish the public education system to have better luck in the future.
I hope I can become a valuable asset to my company in the near future.
I wish for you to be content.
Cure autism.
I wish I and my family a happy life. And that I could fly!
I wish that I can be a good person.
I wish for my parents to be happy together and not go through a divorce.
I wish to overcome my depression and for me and you to work out in the end.
To be free.
To be successful in business and for my family to be happy and healthy.
I wish to be happy.
I wish I can meet my real family in Korea.
Pass bar this time.
I wish that I love my career and life of being an artist after art center to live a life of happiness from working so much. I want my parents to be happy to know that the daughter they could have lost loves them and thanks them for everything.
I just want a job and boyfriend. Is that too much?!
I wish for a good, prosperous life for my fiancé and I.
I can find a job next week to help get settled here in CA. Happiness and Peace.
I wish freedom, life and hope for my friend.
I wish to finally be able to have a home, filled with peace, for my children, and all who enter be filled with the presence of God's love.
Find my/our way.
I wish that I could be blessed with a baby, and that I could have happiness in my life. Also that my dad could have a better marriage and be happy.
I wish for so many things but right now I would be happy if she just called.
I wish my generation can overcome the mistakes of the past.
I wish to someday soon meet Justin Bieber.
I wish we get pregnant next month and it's a healthy baby.
I wish for my peace-loving family to never change. No matter what happens to me when I leave to the Air Force.
I wish for everyone to feel as happy as I do today.
I wish for my life to be happy. And for the Dodgers to at least win the pennant!
I wish my parents will one day get to see and meet their grandchildren.
I wish to be a strong woman.
I pray for my dearest sister … that she'll be blessed with the child that she was meant to have.
I wish happiness, success and health for my daughter.
I wish to make the 2012 Olympics.
To live out my dream and ambitions. To be happy and flourish.
I wish that everyone in the world laughs at least once a day.
Love, happiness and the person that understands.
I wish I could find my happiness in Hawaii. Hope it's gonna be better than L.A.
I wish homeless people had homes.
I wish I could be less critical and more accepting. Everyone would be happier.
I wish for Japan to stop trembling.
I wish for the continual clearing of my path and the strength to make the right decisions for me. Anxiety be GONE!
I wish I can clean up my room in time for the sleepover.
I wish for those that are searching for happiness: may they find true happiness. Thank you.
I wish for everyone I love to just be OK. For everything to work out. For our worries to subside.
I want you back.
I wish that the friend I love will have a better life.
I wish to truly be my best self and not try and be something I cannot be. I wish for happiness with who I am.
I wish for all to follow the admonitions of the heart no matter the cost.
May all creatures live in peace and may all my actions contribute to that peace.
I wish I could find my place.
I wish for monetary security for my family. To be free of debt and for the resources to make my family's lives easier.
I wish to win any lottery in the future.
I wish to have great expectations. I wish to do well in college and to love as much as possible.
I wish to go to the real Hogwarts in Scotland before I die.
I wish for our relationship to keep on getting stronger. Grow together.
Wishing for the courage to seek out my dream job.
I wanna live and I wanna give.
I wish to use my creativity and imagination to help others in positive ways.
We wish for a baby.
I wish I could quit my job.
I wish for self compassion and love.
My wish is to have a loving husband and family forever.
I wish for a great future and humble life. May I live and learn each day.
I wish for good vibes forever.
I wish to be the best drummer in the WORLD.
I wish for some direction.
Let me keep the friends I have now forever.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
