Tales From New Years

Hello everyone! how is life?

Well, I'm assuming you all would like an update from me. I have quite a few things to update about but I am not sure what to start with. I guess I will start with new years in Japan, and then move onto random topics about my life in Japan.

Well new years... It was fun! I dont know how to rank it against new years in America though, because in my family new years is a family activity.? We sit around playing games till the ball drops and then we all drink a special yummy punch that Dad makes. mmm its yummy.? mmm... -- I enjoy how my dad instilled a great sense of how holidays should be family time in us kiddos. I wanna do that with my kids. Anyway, back to the story -- although I can't compare Japanese new years with American new years, I can tell about the Japanese new years celebrations I went through! ^_^

I live in Yokohama, as most of you probably know, but I ended up in Tokyo for the new years celebrations. Almost all Japanese go to a shrine or temple (or both) on new years. This stems from the fact that a lot of Japanese tradition is rooted in Buddhism. Even though Japanese tradition is rooted in Buddhism, nowadays if you ask a random group of Japanese people what religion they are, almost all of them will tell you “agnostic.” The funny thing is that on special days (such as new years) they still will go and throw money at a statue of Buddha and say a prayer. Not unlike the masses of non-Christians going to Christmas and Easter services in America, I suppose. But anyway, to truly experience Japanese culture, I also threw 5 yen, go-en is a lucky coin, at Buddha and said a prayer (but not to him! The person’s name that I talked to starts with a J and ends with an esus Christ… anyone know who I’m talking about? ^_^)

Anyway, before the throwing of money into a big white vat of money-taking-ness (you’ll see it in one of the pictures!) we (all the japanse people in the world it felt like…) gathered in front of the temple with many balloons to count down the year (in Japanese!十、九、八、六、五、四、三、二、一．．．ハッピーニューヤー！！！) and everyone released their balloons at the same time. (as you’ll see in another picture!) It was a grand thing… with a lot of pushing and shoving to try and move through the crowd.

Another exciting thing I got to do was ring a giant bell. That’s right. Gooooong!! I suppose I should explain for you non-living-in-japan people. Buddhist religion believes that there are one hundred and eight sins that people commit (or have? I’m a lil fuzzy on Buddhism…) But anyway, to cleanse us of these sins a giant bell gets rung 108 times when new year’s eve turns into new years. I was number 85. I cleansed you of one of your 108 sins. Oh I feel godly. Anyway, to not be hedonistic, I didn’t do anything about any sin, only Jesus can do that amazingishly godly like stoofs. But I did hit a bell (I hit it really really hard, too) for you. Consider yourself special. One of the amazing things is, this is a really big temple, famous, and lots of people go.. But the bell only gets rung 108 times which makes the tickets for ringing highly valuable. But I was one of the few special people who got one of them. Hurray for me! ^_^

Anyway, after the bell ringing and chucking money at Buddha and taking pictures… we stayed around the temple and just hung out for a while (until 3AMish..), nothing really specially happened except having fun with friends. My trip home is another little part of the holiday that I doubt I’ll forget. I don’t know if I’ve ranted about the trains here in japan enough, but normally they shut down around 12:30ish on non-holidays. Earlier on holidays and weekends though… so you have to be on the train home by 11:30. The problem comes when one is in Tokyo and has an hour trip back… and THEN has to try to catch the last subway to the dorm. Meaning on weekends and holidays you have to leave Tokyo by 10-10:30 to be safe. On new years, though, the trains run all night (well supposedly…) The journey home started around 3 am. I got on my first train just fine and dandy (in retrospect.. The first train I got on would have taken me to Yokohama, but we didn’t know that because on new years the lines all changed and were wacky and whatnot…) so I get off at the stop I thought I had to transfer at. I ask the station person where I should go to transfer to the train that was supposed to take me to Yokohama (3:45ish at this point) He looks baffled and checks the schedule, finding out that the train I just got off of was the one to Yokohama. Slightly frustrated, I decide to just try to switch lines and jump on a different train. This shouldn’t be hard… I’ll just follow the signs to the line I had to transfer to, right? Well, although the trains are running, the stores all lock their doors, making it impossible to follow the signs. The sign point into solid walls around 75% of the time! (4 o’clock) Anyway.. After about 15 minutes of randomly walking around and asking drunk Japanese people where to go in broken Japanese, I find my train. After getting through the gate and running up to the platform… I notice that my train is already sitting there. This is the awkward stage that I like to refer to as the “OMG THAT TRAIN IS SITTING THERE… MEANING IT WILL LEAVE ANY MINUTE… BUT I AM NOT *ENTIERLY SURE* THAT THAT IS THE RIGHT TRAIN…BUT SHOULD I TAKE THE FEW SECONDS IT WILL TAKE TO FIGURE OUT IF IT IS RIGHT…?…BECAUSE IF IT IS…AND I TAKE THE SECONDS IT MIGHT LEAVE BEFORE I GET ON… AHHHH…!!!” of course this screaming inside my head normally takes all of .01 milliseconds, and is normally done as I dash onto the train hoping for all I’m worth that it is the right train. Now what doesn’t normally happen, but happened on new years at 4 in the morning, while I am jetlagged sleepy (that’s right, jetlagged is now an adj. “jetlagged sleepy” means that my mental skills were turning into that of what an intoxicated 3 year old would normally have) happened. The train, the one that “MIGHT LEAVE AT ANY SECOND!” sat at the platform for 10 minutes. 10 agonizing minutes of “should I step off to read the signs? But if I do it might leave…” type thoughts running through my head. Lets just say it wasn’t fun.

With the amazingly annoying feeling of uncertainty lingering around, the train DID end up getting me to Yokohama at around 4:20. Now here is the fun part. To get from the station I was at to the subway station, which I needed to be at, one must walk through an underground shopping mall. Unfortunately half of the passages which I normally take were blocked… just like the other place! But after wandering around for 20 minutes I finally arrived at exit 5 (us international students meeting place for the subway.)

When I got to exit five however… I soon learned why all the other entrances to the subway were closed. The subway, unlike the trains, didn’t run all night! At this point I was ready to lay down and cry, but being the big boy that I am, I didn’… wait what am I saying.. Inside I *was* laying down and crying.

Anyway to make an already long story a little shorter, I stood outside the subway until it opened at 5:10 and then waited for the 5:43 train that would take me to the station that I needed to go to for my dorm. I then walked the 20 minutes from the station to my dorm, through the cabbage fields, and entered my dorm room. I then promptly fell on my bed and slept from roughly 7 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, aggravating my jetlag to no ends.

And now, I suppose you would all like to look at the new years pictures that I have! Well…. I only have about half that were taken. My friends have yet to upload the ones they took (along with the interesting bell ringing video.) later I’ll post them… when I get them.

-David

PS:if there are '?' in the wrong place... I dunno what happened.. blogger is messing up!




#1:A train with no adds... only on newyears :D
#2:Some random yummy snack.
#3:The puppy the temple family I went with owns
#4:Swarm of japanese people.
#5:Tokyo tower with 2007 on it!
#6:balloons I talked about earlier. It was a nice sight.
#7:The bell I got to ring
#8:Me in line for the bell, with my ticket.
#9:Almost able to see Buddha and throw our money at him!
#10:Buddha's golden thrown thingymabober
#11:The white thingy I talked about earlier.
#12:Buddha.
#13:I guess no one is allowed to be down there... >_>
#14:Zojoji temple, Tokyo tower, and the Moon. this is at 3AM
#15:David using Hans as a tripod.
#16:Shrine to dead babies.. I think.
#17:Omochi. Traditional japanese new year food. It is made out of rice.