Day 1 of 30 day meme, and My New Years in Japan Part 1

Day 01 - A picture of you "in Japan". (doing or wearing something "Japanese")

 ♫Totoro To-Toro♫

There are quite a few pictures I could have chosen for this, but most of them I decided against because I’ll be sharing them at a later date with more detailed stories. Also, I wanted one in Tokyo since that is where I spent most of my time. So I decided on this picture of when my friends and I took a trip to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka 三鷹市 (a city just outside of Tokyo). Because what is more Japanese than Miyazaki movies? They are like national treasures. My good friend Emily (one of the first people I met in Japan) is in this photo with me.

2010 was the Year of the Tiger (same year I was born in!) and my host family had this charm hanging on the door meant to ward off evil and bring good luck into the house. But more importantly, LOOK AT HOW CUTE THE LITTLE TIGER IS!

So since we have started a new year I guess it is an appropriate time for me to talk about what お正月 was like for me last year in Tokyo.  I really should wait to do this till after I do and introductory post about my host family that I lived with, so that you guys would have a bit of background on what kind of people they are, but I guess I can just give you a quick overview. I lived in Inagi 稲城市 (about a 5 minute walk from Inaginaganuma station 稲城長沼駅 with the Mori 森family, which consisted of a Mother and Father, a son who was married and lived off in Shibuya (I’m not quite sure how old he was but I am guess mid-thirties), a daughter who was thirty (and still lived at home while working for a magazine company, but it is not weird to live with your parents until you marry in Japan), and the family pets (dog named Babe, cat named Ikkyu, and some tropical fish that had lots of babies while I was there). I also wasn’t the only student staying with this family, another girl from my program lived with us too. Her name is Maggie and she lives in New York. They paired us up I think because we are both Vegetarian (a topic I will tackle at a later date). I got along with my host family VERY well, it was pretty much a perfect match. They were laid back, liberal, and while very caring towards me they weren’t too overbearing and let me do my own thing, I guess I should also mention that the father is a retired newspaper reporter (sports I believe) but travels A LOT and does freelance writing now. The mother is a housewife and takes care of the home. They are both in their mid-60’s.

 I think this is my host family's pitiful excuse of Kadomatsu (gate pine display). Let it be noted that normal ones look much prettier than this.

Experiencing New Years in Japan may have been the ONE experience I was dying to have before going to Japan. When people asked what I wanted to do most in Japan my answer was always go to Kyoto, and visit a shrine on New Years day (hatsumode 初詣) . I had read and studied a lot about what happens during the New Years holiday there, but finally I was going to get to experience it for myself.

Most everyone gets time off over New Years in Japan. I remember my host sister Maki being ELEATED because she had a week or more off (she really dislikes her job). The son and his wife came to stay 3 or 4 nights with us (their house is BIG by the way, it’s actually two houses combined into one, so there was plenty of room for everyone). New Years Eve I had plans to meet in Harajuku with friends (our usual hangout since it was kind of a “meet in the middle” place for everyone) for lunch. We decided on Shakey’s, an American chain Italian restaurant, because sometimes you get sick of eating Japanese food all the time, and they were having this AWESOME holiday sale for their buffet that totally made it worth it. And let it be said that I had never eaten at a Shakey’s restaurant before going to Tokyo (nor have I since). I had never even seen one before, in Michigan Pizza Hut dominates. But if you want American style pizza while you are there (not Japanese style with corn and mayo, where did they seriously get that idea?) I recommend Shakey’s. So a group of us went and stuffed ourselves on pizza and pasta. I watched in amazement as Korin (one of my best friends in Japan, and the person I probably saw the most because we had all but one class together) ate 18 pieces of pizza! Jaren (another good friend) and her were challenging each other who could eat the most because 1) they wanted to get their full money’s worth and 2) they really like eating. :D   

Shakey’s is located almost in Omotesando (which is right next to Harajuku) down by Kiddy Land. Because it was New Years Eve, food stalls had started setting up along the street there leading up over the bridge to the famous Meiji Shrine 明治神宮.  They were selling street food like yakisoba, taiyaki, etc. and we all cried because it smelled sooooo good but we were all stuffed from our pizza binge. If you are ever in Tokyo for New Years I would not recommend the Meiji Shrine for the shrine to go to for your hatsumode (first shrine visit of the year). People start lining up over night, and my host sister Maki told me that when she was in High School that she did it a couple times with friends. But that could be what you are looking for who knows, just expect to spend hours standing in line to get in.

When I got home in the evening that day only my host brother’s wife and Otousan were home. My host brother’s wife (whom, by the way, spoke VERY good English, as did the brother but she was better) told me that everyone else had taken Maggie to the hospital because she was running a high fever and had been puking. Later Maggie had told me that the night before she had eaten some sushi, and that she thought she got food poisoning from eating raw shrimp, which she had never tried before. Perfect timing right? I felt really bad for her because I know she was looking forward to doing all the things that Japanese do on New Years, and I could tell she was upset. So they came home eventually, and Maggie went to bed while the rest of us stayed up and watched Kohaku the big annual New Years music show. My host family was always so amused by how many celebrities and singers I knew, and I had made a habit of trying to catch Music Station every week when I didn’t have plans, so I was pretty pumped about getting to watch Kohaku live (I had watched it online for a few years before). At around 10 or 11 we all ate soba, a tradition I had not heard before but you eat them because you want to have a long life. Everyone sort of drifted off to bed before midnight till I was the only one left awake (which rarely happened because I was usually the first one to go to bed).

 Looks beautiful, tastes awful.

In the morning we all had the traditional osechi お節料理 breakfast that my Okaasan and Maki had been preparing days in advance. Before we ate my Otousan gave a little speech, which I didn’t understand half of but he wished me good health and all that jazz in the new year. I just did my usual ‘smile and nod like I understand everything that you are saying’ that I had pretty much perfected by that point. To be honest, the food was not at all delicious, but I had been warned by Maki that it wouldn’t be when I watched her making some things a couple days before. I had asked her why they ate it then if it tastes bad, and she told me it’s just what they do. It’s tradition.  I can understand that because I don’t think most of the food we traditionally eat at Thanksgiving in America is very flavorful either, though not to quite the same extent.  I found the mochi hardest to eat. Okaasan had put it in a miso soup to soften it, and it was still really hard for me to pull apart and eat. I kept feeling like it was going to get caught in my throat too (which apparently IS a problem because a couple people usually die every year from choking on mochi I kid you not EDIT: At least 6 people died this year!). I think it takes a skilled person to eat mochi properly. I didn’t even end up finishing mine because it took too much effort.

 Imagine this road filled with people.

Like this, but with MORE.

*note that I did not take these pictures as I forgot my camera so these are googled*

After breakfast we all got ready and got on the train to go 2 stations down to visit the Ohkunitama Shrine 大國魂神社 for our hatsumode. I had been there once before with Maki and Maggie on one of our weekend shopping trips, but I didn’t know much about the shrine and I wasn’t really expecting it to be as crowded as it was! I found out later that it is one of the oldest shrines in Tokyo (they think it was establish 111A.D) and that it is one of the 5 big ones located in Tokyo area. No wonder everyone and their Obaasan seemed to be there. It really is a pretty place to visit though, and is my second favorite to Meiji-jingu, and really not that far of a walk from the station at all. There is this long stretch of road that leads up to the shrine that is line on each side by trees that is really pretty. That day it was lined also with booths selling food and toys to win if you played games (typical matsuri/festival decor). It smelled really freaking awesome, and I’m not going to lie, after eating that breakfast I was really craving everything in sight. But I had absent-mindedly left both my camera AND my wallet at home, something that I am still kicking myself about to this day because I don’t have any pictures of the experience. But in a way I’m also glad I forgot it, because instead of worrying about getting a picture of this and that I was able to really purely enjoy and take in everything.

 The view was more like this waiting in line, and there were lanterns hanging just like this with names of companies who donated money to the shrine. Interesting advertising method. I'm pretty sure this picture was taken on New Years Day there (again not by me, google is my friend).

But it really is a gorgeous shrine.

My host parents aren’t the kind of people to mess around so as soon as we arrived we got in the massive long line that stretched all the way down the road/walkway leading up to the shrine and out the gate (and around the corner a bit!). I thought we would have to wait in line forever but the line moved faster than expected, and I would say we really only waited an half an hour to forty-five minutes at most. We did have some trouble trying to all stick together in the line though, because sometimes you just can choose which way you are going to be pushed in Japanese crowds. But I did my best to at least stay close to Maki. When we got up into the actual Shrine part close to where the designated prayer area was I remember there being people yelling through megaphones to please keep moving forward and to be quick. I thought it was really rude and disruptive of the peace when people are trying to pray (especially when it is supposed to be like… the most important prayer time of the year), but I guess it was necessary given the hundreds of people trying to push their way in. I had got actually separated from my host family when we made it up to the prayer spot. I remember looking around a little bewildered after I finally made it out of the line, and my Otousan calling my name to my emense relief. He had the biggest grin on his face that I’m not quite sure what for, but I imagine it was because I most have looked a little overwhelmed, like some lost little child in the crowd (not to mention the ONLY foreigner in the crowd). We went and found everyone else. My sister Maki bought an Ema 絵馬 (those small wooden tablets that people write their prayers on in Shrine and then hang so that the Kamisama (spirits/gods) can read them. She offered to buy me one too, or anything else I wanted like my fortune, but I declined. By that point in my stay I had been to many shrines and had gone through all the motions before so I really didn’t feel the need. After that we left, which made me kind of sad because I would have liked to look around longer (and my stomach would have loved to too) but I could tell that the crowds were too much for them.

So that is the first half of what New Years was like for me last year. This year I did it the American way, got drunk with friends, ran from a cop car, played games, sang, danced (badly), and watched the ball drop. Next post I will write about the crazy awkward family dinner with the extended family, the cute children who chased the demons away, and insane new years sales.