Happy New Year!
Well, most of the world has rung in the New Year (Hawaii hasn't quite yet), so here I am with my Japan New Year's experience!!
Upon doing some research, I found that Yasaka Shrine is THE place to be at midnight on New Year's Eve. Around 8 pm, we met up with our friend Yoshi at Shijo Keihan Station in Gion and then walked over to The Hub Pub near Sanjo. We had some drinks, and Teddy made some Japanese friends - a JR driver and his deaf friend. The JR driver bought us drinks, so that was pretty cool.
Some of the drinks we bought - the pretty one is mine:
The JR driver (right), Teddy and the driver's friend (left):
Around 9:30, Teddy, Yoshi and I headed over to Super Jankara Karaoke Shijo Kawaramachi Branch and sang karaoke for an hour and a half.
Around 11:15, we headed over to Yasaka Shrine, but had to stop about 300 feet back from the main gate, cause there were honestly about 10,000 other people there. The first shrine visit of the year is really important and is called hatsumode.
I took this picture once we got past the police line and got to go in - this is ONLY the group of people that got to go in when we did - there were people stretched all the way back down the street hundreds of feet behind us. You'll have to excuse the quality of the picture - I didn't have my tripod:
We got there at 11:30 (like the site recommended - HA), but we didn't even get to go through the gate 1:15 am. There were so many people I didn't even have to really stand cause I was being pressed against on all sides. So yeah, if you intend to do this, get there at like 10 maybe.
It was really cool though!! We went in and got candied strawberries (like candied apples, but they were with strawberries) and amazake, a sweet sake with a very low alcohol content (I think kids are allowed to drink it, even).
Candied Strawberries!!
The trains, subways and buses run all night on New Year's Eve (as opposed to stopping between 11 and midnight), so around 2 am we caught the train back to Demachiyanagi and walked home from there. Yoshi slept over cause he'd drunk earlier in the night, and Japan is super-anal about drinking and driving (zero tolerance).
On New Year's Day, there is mail delivery even though it's a national holiday. People send these cards called Nengajou to family and friends to wish them a happy new year. Here are my nengajou:
Left to right, top to bottom:
From my - JTE, Japanese friend in Mie-ken, junior high ichinensei (2 ESS girls)
Christmas card from Steph, nengajou from high school ninensei (ESS) and high school ichinensei (ESS)
(And pictures of Aiden, my nephew, from my sister)
For our dinner today, I made some Japanese foods. The soup is soba, tofu and vegetables in a mushroom and soy sauce broth. Soba is really supposed to be eaten at midnight, but better late than never. You're supposed to try to eat the noodles without breaking them. The yellowish stuff is some sweet potato and chestnut dish called kurikinton. I found the recipe online. It was pretty strange and came out soupier than it looked in the picture, and chestnuts taste like turkey. The plate in between the sake and tea pot has red bean filled mochi.
Our dinner:
Soba soup:
Kurikinton:
Kawaii New Year's mochi:
明けましておめでとうございます！
Happy New Year!!
Upon doing some research, I found that Yasaka Shrine is THE place to be at midnight on New Year's Eve. Around 8 pm, we met up with our friend Yoshi at Shijo Keihan Station in Gion and then walked over to The Hub Pub near Sanjo. We had some drinks, and Teddy made some Japanese friends - a JR driver and his deaf friend. The JR driver bought us drinks, so that was pretty cool.
Some of the drinks we bought - the pretty one is mine:
The JR driver (right), Teddy and the driver's friend (left):
Around 9:30, Teddy, Yoshi and I headed over to Super Jankara Karaoke Shijo Kawaramachi Branch and sang karaoke for an hour and a half.
Around 11:15, we headed over to Yasaka Shrine, but had to stop about 300 feet back from the main gate, cause there were honestly about 10,000 other people there. The first shrine visit of the year is really important and is called hatsumode.
I took this picture once we got past the police line and got to go in - this is ONLY the group of people that got to go in when we did - there were people stretched all the way back down the street hundreds of feet behind us. You'll have to excuse the quality of the picture - I didn't have my tripod:
We got there at 11:30 (like the site recommended - HA), but we didn't even get to go through the gate 1:15 am. There were so many people I didn't even have to really stand cause I was being pressed against on all sides. So yeah, if you intend to do this, get there at like 10 maybe.
It was really cool though!! We went in and got candied strawberries (like candied apples, but they were with strawberries) and amazake, a sweet sake with a very low alcohol content (I think kids are allowed to drink it, even).
Candied Strawberries!!
The trains, subways and buses run all night on New Year's Eve (as opposed to stopping between 11 and midnight), so around 2 am we caught the train back to Demachiyanagi and walked home from there. Yoshi slept over cause he'd drunk earlier in the night, and Japan is super-anal about drinking and driving (zero tolerance).
On New Year's Day, there is mail delivery even though it's a national holiday. People send these cards called Nengajou to family and friends to wish them a happy new year. Here are my nengajou:
Left to right, top to bottom:
From my - JTE, Japanese friend in Mie-ken, junior high ichinensei (2 ESS girls)
Christmas card from Steph, nengajou from high school ninensei (ESS) and high school ichinensei (ESS)
(And pictures of Aiden, my nephew, from my sister)
For our dinner today, I made some Japanese foods. The soup is soba, tofu and vegetables in a mushroom and soy sauce broth. Soba is really supposed to be eaten at midnight, but better late than never. You're supposed to try to eat the noodles without breaking them. The yellowish stuff is some sweet potato and chestnut dish called kurikinton. I found the recipe online. It was pretty strange and came out soupier than it looked in the picture, and chestnuts taste like turkey. The plate in between the sake and tea pot has red bean filled mochi.
Our dinner:
Soba soup:
Kurikinton:
Kawaii New Year's mochi:
明けましておめでとうございます！
Happy New Year!!