Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year! (初詣)

Happy New Year Everyone!

Welcome to 2009!

...or Heisei 21 if you use the Japanese calendar!

It is the year of the ox. I wish all of you reading this post a healthy, happy, peaceful, and prosperous new year. Yesterday night I watched the Japanese equivalent of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on TV. I began to get annoyed when the program started showing three song montages in between every live performance.

At the strike of midnight, the stations showed footage from the huge temples in Tokyo, such as the millions of balloons being released at Zozoji Temple, as well as thousands of people furiously chucking coins and praying at Meiji Jingu.

Ask any Japanese and you will learn the the most important first family activity of the new year is the first shrine visit (known as a "hatsumode" in Japanese). This is a chance to go with your family to the local shrine and pray for a healthy and happy new year.

Today, I headed into Matsuyama for my own hatsumode. It was bitterly cold today with periods of sleet raining from the sky, but that didn't stop hundreds and hundreds of people from showing up in mass at the city's most famous temples and shrines.

Just to cover all my bases, I visited both Isaniwa Shrine (Shinto) and Ishitei-ji Temple (Buddhist) to pray.

I'm looking forward to a good year!

B.E.W.

P.S. - As there tend to be lots of new year's parties and drinking around this time of year, I figured I'd take a moment to introduce you to my new favorite Japanese word: "Handle Keeper."  In Japan they call the steering wheel a "handle."  Thus, the "keeper of the handle" is one who abstains from drinking at a party - the designated driver.  The term sounds like something out of the Middle Ages...Awesome!    

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