Happy 2012!!

Wishing you all a great 2012. I anticipate that this year will be a challenging one.......however, I like a good challenge.

We have just finished our traditional New Year lunch and now I am about to have a nap under our heated kotatsu table. I imagine that we will also pay a visit to the local shrine soon, as is the tradition in Japan, to pray for an auspicious New Year.

2012 is the Year of the Dragon. People born in the Year of the Dragon are supposed to be brave and quick tempered. Both Clara (2000) and Yuki (1976) are dragons.......Clara certainly demonstrates the quick temper at times.

More posts to follow over the coming year.

Festive Tidbits

In the end, I never managed to take pictures of the family dinner to celebrate Clara's 11th birthday on 22nd December. Well, that's not exactly true.......in the 3 pictures that were taken, there were at least a couple of people who either looked deeply unhappy or mildly aggressive. I thought it best to delete those from the memory card of my camera.

Despite what the pictures might have indicated, we all DID actually have a very nice dinner. Clara was very proud to be the center of attention and happy to be growing up. The food in the restaurant was adequate as always, but nothing special. What was special was the occasion. Lovely to see Clara soaking up all the attention.

On the 23rd, Clara hosted a party for 4 of her school friends. Really nice kids - very polite and well behaved. Clara did not want me to cramp her style, so I headed off to Kinokuniya book shop in Shinjuku and then had some beers. Nice.

Christmas Day was pleasant, but typically low key for Japan. We opened the presents under the tree and had a great dinner later in the evening. My friend in Shimogo, the local doctor, sent us an extremely tasty bottle of Napa Valley wine called The Prisoner (2009). According to this link, the 2009 vintage actually debuted in a real prison! All in all, a very satisfying day. Christmases in Japan used to be a difficult time for me in the past. Everything is much more low key in Japan and it was difficult to hear about the fun others were having in other parts of the world. Now I know what to expect, it doesn't phase me anymore.

We are all now in limbo waiting for New Year to arrive. I am sure I will soon make another visit to my local bar and am equally sure we will have a nice lunch on New Year's day. I will endeavor to be a more active blogger over the next couple of weeks. Better go.....dinner time.

Happy 2011

Wishing all the readers a happy 2011! I ventured out to my local bar (Elwood's Bar - owner's blog here) last night in order to prolong the New Year celebrations and also to watch the live Premiership football. Unfortunately, the football wasn't being shown but I still managed to have a good time talking to the other customers.

The only mistake of the evening was accepting an invitation to join a game of Jan-Ken-Pon - essentially a game of rock-paper-scissors. The stakes were high as the loser had to drink (and pay for) a glass of 75% alcohol / 151% proof rum. Out of the 12 customers in the bar, I ended up losing the game and was faced with a very nasty shot of rum. In those situations, there is no point in hanging about so I despatched the noxious fluid in one swift gulp. Not nice! A fun start to 2011 - lets hope it is a good year for all.

New Year's Day and beyond...

A welcome change to recent New Years in Japan was the fact that the whole family (including Clara) stayed up for the countdown to New Year. That felt a bit special, although I am never in my best form during the Festive Season in Japan as I feel like I am missing a lot of fun back in Scotland. The next Festive Season will be different though, as we will all return to Scotland for a couple of weeks as Joep will be 60 years old on 28th December. Even though that is a year away, I am starting to look forward to it already.

However, New Year's Day was nice nonetheless and it was spent relaxing, eating, drinking, and singing karaoke from the new microphone and software bought for the Nintendo Wii. My excuse for not singing was that I had a sore throat. We ate the traditional soba on New Year's Day (thank you Satoshi) and then slowly worked through the rest of the food and wine.

The best part of my 9 days off was simply spending time at home. I now spend most of my time working at Weathernews and then by myself in my small Makuhari apartment. The time spent at home was greatly valued.

On the 2nd January, we all went to Hon Kawagoe to make the yearly visit to a temple to pray/wish for good fortune throughout the year. Clara's wish was that I would find a job closer to Kumegawa so that I would not have to live in Makuhari. That really is pressure!

Happy New Year - 2008

New Year passed relatively well and we continued to eat, drink, and be merry. I 'saw the bells in' in our apartment in Tokyo and then headed to my local bar (Bo Jangles) to continue the celebrations. The craic was good and all the customers were in party mood. I was left alone in the bar at around 2am when all the customers headed to the local shrine to pay their respects. I turned down their invitation to join them and relaxed in the empty bar drinking my beer. I staggered home at about 3.30am and tried to mentally prepare myself to be woken up at 9.30am so we could all join Yuki's parents for a special New Years brunch.

Everyone filed to the family shrine (in a spare room) to light incense and pay their respects to the family ancestors. I thought that it was a nice way to include those who have passed away in our thoughts during this special occasion. I suppose religion does have its benefits after all.... The photo is an example of a typical family shrine, although perhaps on the large side.

Once we all returned downstairs, we all sat at the large kotatsu table and had a short toast in Japanese and English. The Japanese family members all tucked into an expensive array of assorted seafood whilst I experienced the delight of a good old ham salad. I have never liked seafood so I was quite happy with what I was given. Sometimes I feel a bit of a liability at family dinner times as an extra dish usually needs to be prepared for myself. I have come to the conclusion that I will never come to like seafood - a big shame in Japan.

The early afternoon on New Years Day passed quietly and then I met up with an old Japanese friend to continue the celebrations. We headed to Yasaka Shrine, near my apartment, and I was able to watch the natives perform their rituals. We queued for about 30 minutes and then made a small cash donation, rang the temple bell, and clapped our hands twice to ostensibly pray. I was wondering whether the people who made the effort to visit the shrine actually had some religious beliefs or were there because it is 'the thing to do' at New Year.

Outside the shrine, there was a small bonfire that seemed to be burning the old fittings from 2007. I guess it's a kind of 'out with the old and in with the new' scenario. If anyone can enlighten me further, it would be appreciated.

Once we left the shrine, we found the only bar that was open and continued to enjoy ourselves.

So now it is 2008 and the year promises to hold many challenges. Hopefully I'll be able to regain some blogging momentum and produce a few more stories from my time in Japan. Happy 2008!!