Happy New Year!

This was my first ever New Year’s Eve in Japan. Last year, I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia celebrating the New Year with my friend Gyn Ian Yap, and back in the States the year before that. I’ve been looking forward to my first New Year’s in Japan because it is a big holiday here. While Christmas is not really deeply culturally connected to Japan, the New Year’s holiday really is. Most companies have three to five days off to celebrate the holiday, and one of the big parts of the New Year’s celebration is the 初詣 (Hatsu Moude, literally “first” “temple visit”), the first visit to a temple of the New Year. Many people go to the temple at midnight to (literally) ring-in the New Year. I’ve been looking forward to my first first temple visit (初初詣?) since I came here. One of the most popular temples for the Hatsu Moude, the Meiji Shrine, can see as many as ten thousand people go through the first day. I’ve heard that there are two or three hour waits just to get into the temple. In fact, New Year’s Eve is the only night in Japan where the trains run past 1am so people can go and visit temples.

Because I’m not too excited about multi-hour waits, in fact I’ve done that a few times when I went to Times Square in New York, I decided to go to a local temple. Luckily, I have a great temple about a five minute walk away from where I live, called Kuhombutsu. I headed out at about 11:20pm, and ended up waiting at the gates for a little while. The main gates were closed until 11:30pm, and I waited with about twenty other people for the gates to open. We went in and walked around the temple grounds. The main building is lit up nicely and they open it up so you can see the large golden Buddha statues inside. At about ten minutes before midnight two priests started to chant near the large temple bell, and people started to line up near the main building to wait for the New Year. At midnight the priests start ringing the bell, and people start donating to the Shrine and wishing for a Happy New Year. I was quite surprised because while there were few people at 11:30pm, by ten past midnight maybe two hundred people had lined up.

I stayed until about 12:45am, and even when I left people were still coming in. I think they kept on coming for quite a while, but as for myself, I was tired so I headed home. On the way home, I bought a lucky arrow that is supposed to bring good luck. I’m not sure about that, and actually I think it would be more useful if I had a bow to go with the arrow. That way, if something bad happens, like a burglar tries to break into my apartment, I could shoot them with an arrow which would possibly be good luck. I also bought a yaki-moe (hot potato) on the way home and ate that. I don’t know if they are traditional foods for New Year’s, but it sure did help keep my hands warm. There are traditional foods, but since I was on my own, I didn’t know what they were.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great 2007 and a Happy New Year!