Oh, and visiting Nikko Toshogu in the wee hours of the morning to ring in the new year!
Happy New Years to you and yours. Wishing you the best for 2013!
Showing posts with label New Years. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Years. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Happy New Year!
U and I escaped Tokyo for a few days - studying and onsen-ing.
Oh, and visiting Nikko Toshogu in the wee hours of the morning to ring in the new year!
Oh, and visiting Nikko Toshogu in the wee hours of the morning to ring in the new year!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Cultural Divide
So Christmas was a bit of a bust, and I was rather upset about it, especially it was U's first "real" Christmas. The silver lining is that we got another chance at a whole different holiday almost right away! By the time New Years rolled around we were both over our bouts of sickness and although my thesis and a paper he is way past due on meant we didn't have a lot of time for relaxing (and opted to spend it just the two of us at my place instead of turning it into me meeting his parents for the first time - wheeeeeee!) But in the end we had a great time, traditional and low-key and still lots of fun.
We started with decorations - kagami mochi (rice cake).
And then we watched the traditional New Year's eve TV programs Kohaku uta gassen - (literally "red-white song battle" a sing-off between the women/red and the men/white).
This year's surprise guest was Susan Boyle, who looked a little overwhelmed at being flown all the way around the world and showered with all the adoration (apparently she was randomly proposed to by a couple of different young cute Japanese guys!).
Then we bundled up in warm gear and headed out just before midnight. We were waiting for a train as it ticked down to midnight so we didn't have a countdown, and I didn't even get a New Year's kiss! (although I bullied poor U into giving me a quick peck on the cheek - aaack! public displays of affection - oooh! the horror!!) We headed into Tokyo, to Zojoji - or rather to the small Shiba Toshogu shrine next door. (I've had a thing for Toshogu ever since I first went to the biggest one in Nikko, and for a while was planning on studying the shrines as my PhD. That plan is no longer in play, but I still have a thing for Toshogu and U has developed a liking for them too, we've been known to spend hours trying to track an itty bitty one down...) Anyways, so we headed off to Zojoji...
Which, I found out later, is where a big count-down happens, so there were hordes of people there. Luckily, however, they were mostly leaving when we were arriving.
Shiba Toshogu lit up with paper lanterns was magical. I'd only ever seen it deserted in the middle of the day, so it was really special to see so many people there and see it so festive.
It was great fun, but we were getting cold and sleepy so we headed back to the station - walking past Starbucks that was both open and PACKED at 3 am! The train too was full, and it seemed surreal that it really was 3 am.
We came home and slept, getting up around midday on the first. U was in charge of food, but we had wimped out and bought a selection of traditional fare. I had tried various types of osechi (New Year's food) made by friends in Canada, and really liked it, but apparently it wasn't the "traditional stuff" that it turns out most people don't like much (or at least don't like unless they've had copious amounts of sake!) But both U and I like ozoni, a New Year's soup that varies widely from house to house and region to region. So I convinced U he should call his mom and ask for her recipe. As I suspected she was THRILLED that her son was making me ozoni and was even more thrilled that he wanted HER recipe (which turned out to be so basic it wasn't even a recipe!).
We started with decorations - kagami mochi (rice cake).
And then we watched the traditional New Year's eve TV programs Kohaku uta gassen - (literally "red-white song battle" a sing-off between the women/red and the men/white).
This year's surprise guest was Susan Boyle, who looked a little overwhelmed at being flown all the way around the world and showered with all the adoration (apparently she was randomly proposed to by a couple of different young cute Japanese guys!).
Then we bundled up in warm gear and headed out just before midnight. We were waiting for a train as it ticked down to midnight so we didn't have a countdown, and I didn't even get a New Year's kiss! (although I bullied poor U into giving me a quick peck on the cheek - aaack! public displays of affection - oooh! the horror!!) We headed into Tokyo, to Zojoji - or rather to the small Shiba Toshogu shrine next door. (I've had a thing for Toshogu ever since I first went to the biggest one in Nikko, and for a while was planning on studying the shrines as my PhD. That plan is no longer in play, but I still have a thing for Toshogu and U has developed a liking for them too, we've been known to spend hours trying to track an itty bitty one down...) Anyways, so we headed off to Zojoji...
Which, I found out later, is where a big count-down happens, so there were hordes of people there. Luckily, however, they were mostly leaving when we were arriving.
Shiba Toshogu lit up with paper lanterns was magical. I'd only ever seen it deserted in the middle of the day, so it was really special to see so many people there and see it so festive.
It was great fun, but we were getting cold and sleepy so we headed back to the station - walking past Starbucks that was both open and PACKED at 3 am! The train too was full, and it seemed surreal that it really was 3 am.
We came home and slept, getting up around midday on the first. U was in charge of food, but we had wimped out and bought a selection of traditional fare. I had tried various types of osechi (New Year's food) made by friends in Canada, and really liked it, but apparently it wasn't the "traditional stuff" that it turns out most people don't like much (or at least don't like unless they've had copious amounts of sake!) But both U and I like ozoni, a New Year's soup that varies widely from house to house and region to region. So I convinced U he should call his mom and ask for her recipe. As I suspected she was THRILLED that her son was making me ozoni and was even more thrilled that he wanted HER recipe (which turned out to be so basic it wasn't even a recipe!).
Friday, 1 January 2010
New Year's Dream
Last night (or rather this morning) U told me lucky New Year dreams - the kind you have when you sleep. He said that the best thing to dream about was Mt Fuji - that foretells great fortune and good luck. An eagle is second in line and an eggplant is third.
I don't tend to dream much, or at least I don't remember my dreams. When I'm particularly stressed or busy I tend to dream about whatever is stressing me - which is even more stressful as I can't get away from whatever it is even when I sleep! When I do remember my dreams they tend to be a weird mixture of things happened the previous day and whatever else is on my mind.
I didn't dream about the "big three" last night, but I woke up this morning with the vivid memory (that has since disappeared completely) of a dream of kado matsu - New Year's decorations with the triple good luck combination of pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms. Only the one in my dream didn't have any pine (besides the name - which literally means "gate pine") but it did have a strange animal - a cow that seemed to be dressed up as a tiger, or trying to change into a tiger. It wasn't until I was telling U about my dream for the second time that we both suddenly realized the symbolism - last year was the year of the cow, this year is the year of the tiger... U is convinced that my combination of all three of pine and bamboo and plum and the cow-turning-into-a-tiger animal in one dream completely trumps even Mount Fuji, ensuring only the best of luck for me in the coming year.
With my thesis due in less than two weeks I'm willing to take ANY suggestion of good luck!
Happy New Year!
I don't tend to dream much, or at least I don't remember my dreams. When I'm particularly stressed or busy I tend to dream about whatever is stressing me - which is even more stressful as I can't get away from whatever it is even when I sleep! When I do remember my dreams they tend to be a weird mixture of things happened the previous day and whatever else is on my mind.
I didn't dream about the "big three" last night, but I woke up this morning with the vivid memory (that has since disappeared completely) of a dream of kado matsu - New Year's decorations with the triple good luck combination of pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms. Only the one in my dream didn't have any pine (besides the name - which literally means "gate pine") but it did have a strange animal - a cow that seemed to be dressed up as a tiger, or trying to change into a tiger. It wasn't until I was telling U about my dream for the second time that we both suddenly realized the symbolism - last year was the year of the cow, this year is the year of the tiger... U is convinced that my combination of all three of pine and bamboo and plum and the cow-turning-into-a-tiger animal in one dream completely trumps even Mount Fuji, ensuring only the best of luck for me in the coming year.
With my thesis due in less than two weeks I'm willing to take ANY suggestion of good luck!
Happy New Year!
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