Jan. 1- I must admit that missing the American Christmas that I am used to was kind of hard but the Japanese New Year definitely helped make up for the lack of Christmas! Japanese New Years is basically the best parts of the American Christmas. We ate traditional type foods that you rarely eat any other time of the year, read New Year cards (called nengajo- I got 4!!!), relaxed around the house, and spent quality family time together. There was no Christmas Eve service this year but I did get to participate in one of my host dad's Buddhist traditions/ceremony. I also received おとしだま (otoshidama), a special present- typically a little money. I have to say that my favorite part of January 1st was sitting with my host family that night and playing Nintendo64 as a family.
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| Traditional Bamboo New Years Decoration |
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| Decoration to hand over the front door |
おとしだま, ate more delicious food, and got to hang out with my cousins. We went shopping, New Years is like Black Friday in the US- most stores have huge sales. I bought a sweater and Ojiisan bought all of the grandkids sweats. We also watched a scary Japanese movie and played cards.
Jan. 3- Risa, a friend from school, invited me to go to じんじゃ (jinja- shrines) with her. Visiting shrines is a traditional way to celebrate the New Year. You go and pray for a good year, health for your family and friends, or good grades. Risa and I walked from one city to the next city over, stopping at three shrines and one こふん (kohun). At the first shrine we went to we also got our fortunes told (making me 2/2 on getting the luckiest fortune) and bought fair type food- baby custard (like doughnuts except not fried) and candy apple.
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| This is Kohun- of course from where I was standing it just looked like a bunch of trees. |
Jan. 4- I met Tia and Mai in number to watch The Hobbit. The movie was fantastic up until the ending. The book is not that long but a lot of things do occur throughout the story. So, I was surprised when the movie ended and we were only a third of the way through the book. After the movie we ate at Krispy Kremes and did a little shopping. The sales were still going on and all three of us managed to find something that we just had to buy. I got a nice sweater that was originally $170 for $20- YEAH FOR SALES SHOPPING! After shopping I went to Mai's house for a sleepover. Her family took us to a shrine, first time I didn't get the luckiest fortune, and out to dinner. The restaurant we went to was extremely fancy. We had multiple courses including (but not limited to) salad, lobster, steak, and dessert. The food was prepared on a grill/stove right in front of us. It was a bit of a shock to see the live lobsters being prepared for dinner but Mai and I were reassured that lobsters don't have the nerves that feel pain so being put on the grill doesn't hurt them... just cooks them... Back at their house, Mai and I decided watch the first Lord of the Rings movie before calling it a night.
Jan. 5- Mai and I met up with a couple of Japanese students and exchange students from her school and went to かいゆうかん (Kaiyuukan) the aquarium in Osaka. Then we took a ride in a ferris wheel, but not just any ferris wheel. "Sitting at the mouth of the Osaka Bay is the enormous Tempozan Giant
Ferris Wheel, formerly the biggest, tallest and most technologically
advanced observation wheel in the world (now surpassed by the even more
massive British Airways London Eye)." The view was absolutely amazing! Then I went back to Mai's house for another sleepover and we watched the second Lord of the Rings movie.
Jan. 6- I went to Mai's school so that she could work on an art project. At the school we met up with a couple of exchange students from the day before and had a grand old time giving each other riddles to try to solve. Then I returned home and prepared to return to my own school the next day.
Sayonara from Osaka, Japan.
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