New Year's in Japan

In America, Christmas is a time for family and togetherness while New Year's is for partying the night away, often with your significant other--in Japan it is the complete opposite. New Year's is a time for family and good luck and also a trip to the shrine. New Year's is also the only night of the year that there is no "final train"...the trains run all night long so everybody can get to a shrine and get back home. The most amazing thing about this to me? They're always on time.

So, I celebrated New Year's  the Japanese way with my friend Machi. Around 10ish, we headed out, walking to the nearby train station in the cold. It never ceases to surprise me how Japanese winter days can be warmish and I don't even really need a coat, but as soon as night drops, it becomes bitterly cold. Machi says it's something to do with oceans and mountains and cloud covers...I just nod my head and smile.

We got on the train and headed off. The trains and stations were packed with people, and they were all going to Kyoto, just like us. We got off in Gion (the old geisha district) and headed towards a temple that I had read about in a guidebook. Yasaka-jinja (Yasaka Shrine) is a gorgeous old shrine that I realized that I knew from entering Kiyomizudera with Moe way back in...what was it, September? (Actually, since the pictures I took at night are so blurry, I'll place some better daylighted pictures of the temple in here as well that I did take in September!)

The entrance (September)

The entrance (December)--right before the BIG crowds started coming in

The temple itself (September)

One really interesting thing I noticed was the sheer amount of police directing people flow. While New Year's is a national holiday, the police are still on duty!! I guess that's to be expected, though. There were so many people that I would almost fear getting trampled!

When we arrived at the shrine, it was packed with all sorts of stalls for food, games, toys, and dragon paraphernalia (this is because this year is year of the dragon!). I cooed and awwwed over the various cute things, and also got my fortune told. Apparently, I'm to be having good luck in the new year (even if my Japanese isn't good enough to be reading the specifics yet!).

We wandered around for a bit after getting to the temple complex, had some delicious grilled mochi (rice cake) for a snack and then entered a line. We weren't sure what exactly the line was for, but it was there, so we stood in it. While we waited, we were entertained (though I'm not sure if "entertained" is quite the right word...) by a pack of drunken teenage idiots who decided to pick a fight with one of the shrine priests and then the police. No pictures were taken, for obvious reasons, but it did add some excitement to line-waiting. There was also an advertising blimp with Snoopy on it, but the lighting conditions were not great, and so it turned out a blur.

It was creamy and chewy with just the right amount of tooth to be filling in both an "empty stomach" and "oh I'm so cold!" sort of way. Mochi is usually bland (being only rice pounded to a mush), but the mitarashi sauce added just  the perfect tangy flavor to make this delicious!

Blurry picture of the line before we joined it!

This is what the line looked in front of us--you don't want to see the back!

We waited in line, despite not knowing what was happening (I had asked a miko [priestess] and she replied that it was for "praying") and we waited until midnight. Then for the last five seconds of the old year, a drum was beat (bum bum bumbum) and then the crowd/line surged forth. What was happening was that the police were directing the crowd, so a group of people would approach the main building, throw their currency into the donations box, clap their hands three times, make a prayer/wish, and then get hustled out by the police.

Machi and I in line!

Almost our turn for the whole praying thing!

One thing that happens during the New Year's, that Machi and I didn't do, was the ceremonial buying some rope and then lighting it aflame and taking it home. Okay, it's more elegant than that, but basically it is taking home some of the sacred fire from the shrine to light your hearth for the first meal of the New Year.

Blurry picture of people lighting their ropes

What the rope looks like afterwards--infused with the holy flame. People carry them around, waving them in circles to keep the embers hot as they wait in line. Fortunately for me, I like the smell, because as we waited in line, the couple in front of us were waving them like there was no tomorrow!

After praying, we headed out to the other surrounding shrines and temples. On our way there, I caught one of the most delicious scents to mankind (or at least Wisconsinkind living currently in Japan)--Italian sausage. Eating that sausage was one of the best things I've eaten--exacerbated by the fact that the stall owner had added horseradish to the stoneground mustard. It felt like a taste of home and it made me happy. Happy, in fact, enough to think about calling home. (dun Dun, DUN!)

We also traveled to a Buddhist temple where they were ringing in the traditional 108 beats of the temple bell. We couldn't get into it (they had closed the gates and were only letting people out), but I did manage to grab some pictures. I wish I could have gotten better, because from a distance, it looked like the building was studded with holiday lights (which were, in fact, just light reflecting off the polished wood beams).

According to Wikipedia, this is Chion-in, the main temple for Pure Land Buddhism

But, before calling home, I had to try soup. There is a special soup that is only served on the New Year's celebration called oshiruko. It is made from adzuki beans and is extremely sweet. I found it in one of the vending machines (here the vending machines are amazing! I will write more about them in a later post!) and just had to try it.

My only complaint was that some of the beans got stuck at the bottom and I couldn't get to them without looking like an idiot.

Not only did it warm up my frozen hands, it was delectable! I also noticed a line as we were traveling back around (we basically went in a huge circle). We both wondered what it could be, from bus lines to bathroom lines, but it was ridiculous! Then we managed to make our way back to the front of the temple. It was the line to get in!

Boy am I glad we missed that line!

Then I decided to call my family with greetings from the New Year (and also the future!)!! Mom picked up and we were talking until a peculiar drumbeat caused me to hang up on her. What was it? In front of the kabuki theater, an improv taiko drumming group had started. It was awesome, it was amazing, it was fun!

The drumbeat pounds through your body, electrifying and awe-inspiring. Cameras and videos can't do it justice, but there's just a feeling of togetherness with all the people gathering around you that you just can't shake. I love taiko drumming so, soooo much! I don't know why it is, but it makes you feel like you're part of a community--part of the group. It exhilarates you and pulls you in and soon your laughing with sheer jubilation!

The videos are a bit blurry due to nighttime and crowds, but this is what happened:

After taiko drumming we got back into the train station, I called my family, and we talked English at some very curious middle school aged girls who were all very excited to see foreigners. Then we got on our train, switched trains, and walked home, where then I skyped my family (it was approximately 2:35am for me...). I watched my dad make noodles (very appropriate for the new year where long noodles signify long life) and then conked out for about nine hours. Then I decided to write my blog post and set it back in the past!

終わり

(El fin)