My New Years in Japan Part 2: Awkward dinner, demon children, and the epic hunt for a designer bag.

I left my last post off talking about spending New Years in Japan.  My host family and I had came back home after our hatsumode trip to the Ohkunitama Shrine. We spent the afternoon doing pretty much whatever we did usually in our free time. If I remember correctly, I spent most of the time on my computer watching movies or dramas or something. My Okaasan, Maki, and my host brother’s wife were busy preparing dishes for our big dinner with the extended family. 

I couldn't pass this up no matter how cliche.

I’m a sucker for cheesy holiday traditions, so I did make sure to get online to watch the ball drop in New York via webcam. My host brother’s wife (whose name I never seemed to get right, that is why I keep referring to her this way. It sounded like “Erika” when I was first introduced to her, but I think it was actually more like “Eeka” I should probably clarify this with Maki [My host sister]…) watched it with me and she asked me if I was feeling homesick because of this. The question sort of caught me off guard, because I didn’t really think that I was. I guess you could say that I maybe was subconsciously… but I wanted to watch it more out of tradition, because it is what I do every year.  At that time when I was in Japan I was pretty much having a panic attack/nervous breakdown every other day about NOT wanting to leave Japan, so I definitely didn’t feel homesick.

Erika (whose real name we may never know) came up to me later in the day with a couple small bags of Chocolate that she had went out and bought for Maggie and me. She explained that she felt really bad that Maggie was sick and couldn’t spend time with us, so she asked if I could deliver the small offering in her place. The second bag was for me because she didn’t want me to feel left out. I was really touched by this, that she would even think of going out and getting something. Maggie didn’t seem as impressed when I gave them to her, but she was also in a terrible mood because Okaasan wasn’t really letting her eat since her stomach was still upset. But those chocolates became my “I’m stressed! I need chocolate!” fix over the next couple weeks, so I’m grateful. 

 Look upon the face of demon children!

In the afternoon I got a surprise. Maki came and got me because we could hear music coming from outside (drums and flute) and she wanted me to come see with her. Turns out some people from the neighborhood had dressed up in New Years garb and were going around “blessing” households that wanted to make a small offering of money. I stood in the doorway while she ran down the street to call them back to our house. It all went by so fast, but basically my Okaasan paid them a few yen for a man dressed in a dragon costume and two little boys with demon masks on to dance around and make a lot of noise in order to scare away “evil spirits”. The little boys were too freaking adorable and I really wish I had thought to run and grab my camera. They gave my Okaasan an omamori (good luck charm) of sorts before leaving. It was 5 yen coin for the year of the Tiger, and Okaasan gave it to me since I am born in the year of the Tiger. 

For dinner my Otousan’s (my host father) brother’s family came to eat with us. He has a wife and two boys that are in their teens. I had only been informed of their coming earlier that day (cue me having a panic attack). I had never meet these people, so I was preeeeeeety nervous. Especially, because Maggie wasn’t going to be there, and we had always sort of worked as a team since our Japanese wasn’t perfect. That day I really realized how much of a support she had been to me. We may not have always got along perfectly, but we relied on each other more than I realized I think. For example it was nice having another American in the house, and I don’t mean that in an “ethnocentric” way, in that it was just nice to have someone to speak English with after a day of having to constantly translate everything in one’s brain (my host mother spoke no English, my host father very little, and Maki’s English is about as good as my Japanese—Intermediate). I kept texting her throughout the night about how incredibly awkward it was. Because it was awkward, so much so that I wished I was sick so that I could go hide in my room too. When they arrived I did my formal “yoroshiku-ing” (part of the greeting when you first meet someone in Japan is to say yoroshiku onegaishimasu which doesn’t translate perfectly into English but means something like “please take care of me”) while desperately trying to remember all the Japanese I have EVER learned in case they started asking me random questions. My brain had melted into a puddle by the end of the night from over-concentrating. 

However, a miracle happened. They didn’t seemed to care about me AT ALL. No one asked me any questions at all really beside where I went to school and where I was from in America. YAY FOR NOT HAVING TO REMEMBER COMPLICATED KEIGO (super-formal language)! After that I pretty much stayed to one side of the room while they stayed on the other. It was only when we actually sat down for dinner that I was forced be within a foot of the two teenage boys, as we were “shunned” to the far end of the table (it felt sort of like being at the kids table at a family reunion). My Okaasan had made me a pizza because she felt like there wasn’t enough food for me already (since I am vegetarian). Which turned out to be totally false because they had prepared like 20 different things and I already had plenty to eat without the pizza. But I offered to share it with the boys since I could not possibly finish a small pizza myself AND eat the gigantic Japanese feast. The boys did end up helping me finish it but they still refused to say more that two words to me. I dunno if they were just your typical shy Japanese boy, if they were intimidated by me, or if they just had horrible personalities, but THANK KAMISAMA I had Maki there at least. I think she received the TASUKETE (help me) brain waves I was sending in her direction, and saved the day by starting conversations with them so we weren’t just awkwardly eating and staring into each other’s faces. I will probably never encounter a more awkward dinner experience again in my life. 

After dinner we resumed our opposite-sides-of-the-room positions. They watched some TV quiz program while I messed around on my computer. It got kind of late and these people just WOULD.NOT.LEAVE. My poor Okaasan looked so exhausted and annoyed. I know they are family and all, but they basically just TOOK over the living room, and in the evening my Okaasan likes to sit on the couch and watch tv and maybe take a nap. I was a little pissed that they were sitting in her spot. But who knows, I’m just the awkward foreigner, I could have been misinterpreting the whole situation. They eventually did leave though.

 

The Japanese answer to Old Navy.

The next day I got up early to go shopping with Maki. Now for those who don’t know the first week of the New Year, especially the 1st and 2nd, are HUGE sale days in Japan. Think black Friday if you are from the US. Earlier in the week she had shown me this ad from UNIQLO about an early morning opening sale (like opening at 6am) they were having for the first time ever (I guess Japan has big sales, but is just getting into the concept of having longer store hours). The deals seemed good but I was not willing to get up that early, even with the allure of free anpan and milk tea that they would be handing out. Turns out that Maki didn’t go either because she slept through her alarm. But we had made a pack to get up and go to Tachikawa 立川 together before the big department stores opened. 

 Behold, Tachikawa's Isetan!

I had plans on buying a very expensive designer bag by Anna Sui (my favorite designer!) that I had been longing for ever since I had laid eyes on it back in October. I am not the type of person who is into designer brand stuff, but I LOVE Anna Sui (I suspect because everything is purple based, and I am obsessed with the color purple). I had never even bought a designer bag before, but I had dreams about this bag. If I could marry this bag I would. So I thought what the heck, if I was thinking about it THAT much, and since I was in Tokyo a fashion capital of the world, I needed something to commemorate my time there. When I explained how much I wanted this bag to Maki she was pretty much on board with helping me get it. She wasn’t sure if it would actually be on sale, since new year sales usually revolve around fukubukoru bags (福袋 lucky/mystery bag). Maki had wanted to go to the Lumine department store to visit a her favorite store, while I was headed to the Isetan department store. We had debated about going to Shinjuku’s Isetan, because we may have had better chances of getting the bag I wanted (since they would have more stocked there) but decided against it since it was too far (hour train ride versus the 20 minutes to Tachikawa) and the crowds would be insane being one of the big name district.  So, Tachikawa it was, and the plan was that Maki would walk me over to get in line at Isetan (it opens at 10am, but people line up beforehand, we got there at 9am) and then she would head over to Lumine. We would do our shopping and then she would come get me. However, when we got to the station I noticed signs posted that the Lumine sale didn’t start until the 2^nd (cue Maki freaking out “EH?! HONTOUNI?!”). I felt really bad that she had come with me and she wouldn’t even be shopping but she said that it was good because after we finished at Isetan we could go look at her store so she could pick out what she really wanted before coming back the next day. 

My makeshift display since I couldn't find any photos online. Bear charm sold separately.

The line at Isetan was LOOOONG even though we had got there an hour early! When we got in line it had already wrapped around two sides of the building (and this is a huge building). By the time they opened I could see that it had wrapped around at least 3 sides. As far as I could see I was the only white girl in line too. They started letting people in gradually, maybe like 50-100 people at a time, and once we made it in we rushed up to the floor that had the handbags. Unfortunately none of the Anna Sui bags were on sale, and Maki asked but all the Anna Sui fukubukoro had sold out.  But by that point I wasn’t going to be leaving that store empty handed after all that effort. So I had resolved to pay full price for it, the only problem was I couldn’t FIND it. We looked all around and even described it to couple different workers but they couldn’t find it. They even whipped out this GIANT book that listed all the different products with pictures, and we STILL couldn't find it. I was pretty disappointed at this point but Maki was in game mode by then. She told me that she is the type that once she sets her mind on something she has to see it through. She was determined that we would find this bag even if we had to go back to Shinjuku for it. This part of the reason I admire her so. Well, we looked around one last time, and we found an area back in the corner that we hadn’t looked before (because it wasn’t the designated “Anna Sui” section) AND THERE IT WAS WAITING FOR ME! Maki used her store card to get 10% off for me but I still ended up paying 18000 yen for it (around 215 dollars). I was elated though, and kind of pissed at the store ladies for not knowing their own merchandise, but most elated. After we checked out Maki’s store in Lumine she took me up to another store located in Lumine that sold Anna Sui accessories so that we could see if anything was on sale there. There was, and I ended up buying a bunch of handkerchiefs, hand towels, a camera case, and a makeup purse. I spent probably 50 bucks on everything when it was worth probably 100.  I even convinced Maki to buy the makeup case too. 

I bought this bling bear in Shimokitazawa. It matches perfectly!

When we got home I took my purse out to play with and Otousan was amused by how giddy I was. But then the fact that I just spent over 200 dollars on a purse hit me. I felt about 60% joy and 40% panic. But it wasn't like buyer's remorse, just like "Oh my god, my mom is going to kill me!" and "Oh my god, my friends are going to kill me!" I got over it quickly though. "Pretty" is a wonderful cure for guilt you see.