Happy New Year

So I'm not dead.  I just can't seem to get it together anymore.  As I type this, I'm looking at my brother's birthday present sitting on my desk.  His birthday was November 3rd.  I've added his Christmas present to it, and I'll send them both off-- hopefully in time for Valentine's Day!  Sorry Mike-- and everyone else to whom I owe birthday/Christmas/baby gifts, phone calls, birthday cards, thank you notes...  Anthon has given up his nap and I have lost ALL of my free time.

I have lots I want to blog about, but I figure I had better stick to the recent past and then slowly try to catch up.

The New Year's holiday here in Japan lasts from December 30th- January 5th.  There's no work for Tony (which we really like) and just about everything shuts down.  It's a little strange to walk around the city and hear silence; it's also very refreshing and nice.

We celebrated New Year's Eve by driving our "new" car (a future blog post for sure) up to Hakone.  The weather was gorgeous and we saw spectacular views of Fuji.

We also had great views of a beautiful lake, and beyond the lake you can see the ocean.

I love the next 2 pictures.  Hey babe, Fuji's a little to your right.

Too far, too far.  Now it's a bit to your left.

At the bottom of the mountain there was a big hill of man made snow.  Tony and Anthon had fun sledding; Ella and I had fun watching and taking pictures. 

After playing in the cold, we were ready to warm up-- so we headed back to the family onsen that we visited this summer with my sister, Rachel.  

 

 

This time around we didn't miss the "Dr. Fish" pool.  It was wild.  You stick your feet into a pool with tons of little fish, they come and nibble the dead skin off of your feet (I know, it's a little gross, but I still was so intrigued I had to try it).  The fish were crazy for Tony's and my feet.  I don't know quite what that means-- but maybe we need to get more frequent pedicures.  Hmmm... I could go for that.

So after having our dead skin eaten away and after soaking for a few hours in red wine, green tea, coffee, and soy milk we were sufficiently soft and relaxed so we headed home.  

We had planned to eat out once we got to back to our village, but we found all of our favorite places closed for the holiday.  So we ate a quite dinner at home, thought about ringing in the New Year at midnight, and were asleep by 10pm.  I heard from a friend in the states that Tokyo had a huge firework celebration that she saw coverage of on TV.  We slept right through it.  I must be old.

New Year's Day is probably the biggest holiday in Japan.  There is the sense that each new year is a fresh start-- so families do major housecleaning, pay their debts, take care of all unfinished business, and travel back to be with their families before December 31st.  Each "first" of the new year is auspicious and therefore quite important.  That is why people rise early to see the first sunrise and travel to a shrine on one of the first days of the year to pray for prosperity and good fortune in the upcoming year.  The shrines are crowded on New Year's Day; nothing else is even open.  It's kind of like Christmas Day in the states (or at least in Indiana)-- when you drive down the streets and nothing is open. 

New Year's Day we got up to see the first sunrise.  (Tony got up to see it; I lifted my head up and looked at the sun rising out of my bedroom window, said happy New Year, and went back to sleep.  So much for a grand beginning!)  After we were all up and dressed we headed to Meiji shrine to be with the masses.  

 

2009 is the year of the ox.  I'm a snake, so I don't know what that means for me.  But my fortune cookie said "An unexpected event will bring you riches."  I think that it's true.

  

These are people's wishes for the new year.  They have the ox on one side and then room to write their hearts desires on the other side.

And these are a different type of blessing that you can buy.  

 

Here people throw money over the barrier, into the shrine and then pray.   What looks like gravel on that white sheet is money.  I'd love to have seen it at the end of the day.  We had to throw a few coins over too-- just to cover our bases!

These face shields on the guards crack me up.  It must be to protect them from worshippers with poor aim.

It was a great New Year's Day and a great holiday.  Tomorrow Tony has to go back to work, and life goes back to normal.  I hope you all had a Happy New Year's too.