Japanese New Year

New years is a big deal in Japan. As in national holiday big, take time off work and observe numerous customs big. I suppose we should also point out that the title of this post may be a bit misleading. Unlike the Chinese New Year celebrations which follow the lunar calendar, the new year in Japan is celebrated on January 1, just as in America. So calling it "Japanese New Year" really only indicates that we were in Japan for the celebration of our typical new year. Oddly enough, our celebration seemed to come a bit early because our 2014 was actually shorter than 365 days. Since we began 2014 in California and ended it in Japan, 16 hours of the year were lost while flying over the international date line, but alas we digress.
 
With John on-the-go a lot lately to training and with all of the other things we have going on, we opted to stay home on New Years Eve and anticipate midnight in true fuddy duddy style. We popped in a movie and set an alarm for 11:30pm. After rousing ourselves from a pre-celebratory slumber, we walked about one minute up the street to the local shrine in our neighborhood, since all shrines were rumored to come alive with activity at the turn of the year. Sure enough, just before midnight, local residents flocked to the temple and calmly lined up in front of the shrine's main building. The Japanese are famously patient and diligent about waiting in line, and New Years Eve is evidently no exception.
 
This line ushered in the opportunity for us to observe a few of the many New Years traditions in our foreign home. People line up at the shrines to participate in "hatsumode", or the first visit to the temple in the new year, and ring the temple bells. Wishes for the new year are made during this practice. After ringing the bells, people were welcomed to cups of sake or a non-alcoholic rice drink (clearly indicated; it wasn't a craps shoot). We also saw people purchasing wooden arrows to place in their homes to ward off evil spirits in the new year. Last year's talismans and New Years decorations are typically burned rather than discarded, and the bonfires were a-blazin' to give people this opportunity.

Although we still have a lot to learn about Japan's New Years traditions, it was a treat to be able to witness a handful of them so close to home. Yoi otoshi o omukae kudasai!

The line keeps getting longer!

 

The rice drink/sake tent.



Happy 2015 from yours truly :-).

We didn't see anyone burning objects in the bonfire while we were there, but they provided some appreciated warmth!

John delighted in disposing of his paper cup in a public garbage can - quite possibly the first one we've seen in this country (normally you take your trash home with you)!