Happy New Year!!!
And so rings in the Year of the Rat. No, the 80's hairband is not getting back together for a reunion tour. According to the Chinese zodiac 2008 is the year of the much maligned furry little critter.
We celebrated New Year's Eve by staying up way beyond our normal bedtime. We headed over to our friend's apartment (Nicola and Steve) for a nice meal of beer and homemade pizza. Yum. After downing a few cups of coffee we headed off to the Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park.
Unlike the US tradition of going to a smelly, overcrowded bar and laying out way too much of your hard earned cash for a few soggy chicken tenders and bottom shelf mixed drinks the Japanese tradition is a little more...traditional. New Year's in Japan (and Asia in general) is more of a time for reflection and being with friends and family. As a result, going to a shrine at midnight is a very traditional way of ringing in the new year.
Being naive little foreigners in Japan for our first New Year's Eve we thought Meiji Shrine would be the ultimate traditional experience. Unfortunately, so did about 3 million other people. We made it as far as the sake barrells which are about 200 feet inside the entrance of the park and about 1 1/2 miles away from the entrance to the shrine. A quick mathematical calculation: 1.5 miles of path x a 50 person wide path = infinite wait time. We quickly decided that we would head back to a much smaller and secluded shrine we passed on the walk over from Nicola and Steve's apartment.
In addition to being far less crowded, this shrine had a huge toasty bonfire. We hung around the 
fire like moths for a little while before deciding to call it a night; we had an extremely tough work week coming up. Hah! Suckers, you fell for it again. If you haven't learned by now, Japan's public holiday schedule rules and New Years is the icing on the cake. Mon 12/31 - New Year's Eve holiday; Tues 1/1 - New Year's Day holiday; Wed & Thurs 1/2 & 1/3 - bank holidays; Fri 1/4 - First Business Day of year half day. How you like dem apples?
fire like moths for a little while before deciding to call it a night; we had an extremely tough work week coming up. Hah! Suckers, you fell for it again. If you haven't learned by now, Japan's public holiday schedule rules and New Years is the icing on the cake. Mon 12/31 - New Year's Eve holiday; Tues 1/1 - New Year's Day holiday; Wed & Thurs 1/2 & 1/3 - bank holidays; Fri 1/4 - First Business Day of year half day. How you like dem apples?
