Kyoto, Tokyo
Happy January! and Happy Year of the Rooster. The Eastern zodiac signs repeat every twelve years, so if you were born in 1993, 1981, 1969, 1957, 1945 or 1933, this is your year! Apparently, you are hard-working and definite about decisions. Bridget is a Rooster; I was born the Year of the Rabbit and she is definite about her envy.
We had a good December but missed all the holiday traditions with friends and family. We drowned our sorrows by attending a traditional Bounenkei i.e. "forget-the-year-party". The Sony test team put together the weekend event and invited all of us, (no one else brought their spouse or children, so we were quite honored). After the banquet, we played games that seemed to be fixed so that Bridget and Eric would win the top prizes. Eric got the coveted, newly-introduced-in-Japan-only, Sony PlayStation Portable, so even though Dave is not a Rooster, he is definitely jealous. The next day, we stopped at a kaki (oyster) shack for lunch. We sat at a line of outdoor fire pits and were given a glove, a knife and a bucket of oysters. After gorging ourselves with grilled oysters and the provided beer, Dave & I stumbled home and slept all afternoon while Eric played on his PSP.
We spent Christmas in Kyoto and New Years in Tokyo.
Kyoto is home to so many hidden gems that we wished we had longer to spend there. We saw the Imperial Palace, the Golden Pavilion, museums and temples but our favorite part of Kyoto was attending a traditional tea ceremony. Tea ceremony blends the arts of ikebana (flower arranging) scroll making, kimono wear and Japanese gardening together as a cultural experience. It was a wonderful way to get an understanding of the beauty and harmony of the traditions.
We did find a church for Christmas Eve service and matched our English words to the Japanese for Silent Night and Come All Ye Faithful. The city was decked out in Christmas decorations despite not being a holiday/religious event for mainstream Japanese. All red and green is quickly removed on the 26th and great effort and time is spent preparing for the big holiday -- New Year's.
We loved Tokyo! So much to see and do and such high energy. We took the monorail to Oidaba- an island in Tokyo Bay with the city of the future. The next day we visited Tokyo Disney and Mickey conjured up some snow for us. Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain are fun no matter what country you are in. We also spent a shopping day in Akihabara so we could get our fill of electronic gadgets.
Everywhere we went, we noticed folks working hard to clean their home by sweeping out the old and preparing for the new. The shrines were buffed up too and new bamboo placed at their entrances. On New Years Day, the tradition is to visit a shrine and ask the gods for a fresh start to the year. We chose a shrine that was on top of a small, snow-covered mountain. The mountain and area were beautiful and the shrine mobbed and interesting. It was a good beginning to the year.
Having been to Thailand for Thanksgiving we were horrified by the tsunami news. The resort we stayed at was in Krabi, a beach down from Phuket. We can picture where people were living, working and playing along the water. Aack! We asked the gods to pay particular attention to the survivors.
We enjoyed our ride home on the shinkansen (bullet train). It zooms smoothly along the track at a neat 300/kph and we got great views of the Japanese countryside and Mt. Fuji.
Back in Isahaya, Bridget and I were invited to a "Coming of Age" ceremony. Anyone turning twenty this year attends the ceremony and the mayor and other officials lecture them on being responsible citizens of Japan. For the 20-year olds, the significance of the day has more to do with being able to legally drink and smoke. Lots of smoking was going on at the ceremony and there was a line of taxis ready to take the crowd to the bars. What was fascinating for us was that the women were all dressed in beautiful and elaborate kimono. A few of the men had on kimono, but most wore suits. Bridget thought it was an interesting contrast to see the kimono-clad women chatting away on their cell phones.
Photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink Folders called Dec Kyoto, Dec Tokyo, Jan Coming of Age
We had a good December but missed all the holiday traditions with friends and family. We drowned our sorrows by attending a traditional Bounenkei i.e. "forget-the-year-party". The Sony test team put together the weekend event and invited all of us, (no one else brought their spouse or children, so we were quite honored). After the banquet, we played games that seemed to be fixed so that Bridget and Eric would win the top prizes. Eric got the coveted, newly-introduced-in-Japan-only, Sony PlayStation Portable, so even though Dave is not a Rooster, he is definitely jealous. The next day, we stopped at a kaki (oyster) shack for lunch. We sat at a line of outdoor fire pits and were given a glove, a knife and a bucket of oysters. After gorging ourselves with grilled oysters and the provided beer, Dave & I stumbled home and slept all afternoon while Eric played on his PSP.
We spent Christmas in Kyoto and New Years in Tokyo.
Kyoto is home to so many hidden gems that we wished we had longer to spend there. We saw the Imperial Palace, the Golden Pavilion, museums and temples but our favorite part of Kyoto was attending a traditional tea ceremony. Tea ceremony blends the arts of ikebana (flower arranging) scroll making, kimono wear and Japanese gardening together as a cultural experience. It was a wonderful way to get an understanding of the beauty and harmony of the traditions.
We did find a church for Christmas Eve service and matched our English words to the Japanese for Silent Night and Come All Ye Faithful. The city was decked out in Christmas decorations despite not being a holiday/religious event for mainstream Japanese. All red and green is quickly removed on the 26th and great effort and time is spent preparing for the big holiday -- New Year's.
We loved Tokyo! So much to see and do and such high energy. We took the monorail to Oidaba- an island in Tokyo Bay with the city of the future. The next day we visited Tokyo Disney and Mickey conjured up some snow for us. Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain are fun no matter what country you are in. We also spent a shopping day in Akihabara so we could get our fill of electronic gadgets.
Everywhere we went, we noticed folks working hard to clean their home by sweeping out the old and preparing for the new. The shrines were buffed up too and new bamboo placed at their entrances. On New Years Day, the tradition is to visit a shrine and ask the gods for a fresh start to the year. We chose a shrine that was on top of a small, snow-covered mountain. The mountain and area were beautiful and the shrine mobbed and interesting. It was a good beginning to the year.
Having been to Thailand for Thanksgiving we were horrified by the tsunami news. The resort we stayed at was in Krabi, a beach down from Phuket. We can picture where people were living, working and playing along the water. Aack! We asked the gods to pay particular attention to the survivors.
We enjoyed our ride home on the shinkansen (bullet train). It zooms smoothly along the track at a neat 300/kph and we got great views of the Japanese countryside and Mt. Fuji.
Back in Isahaya, Bridget and I were invited to a "Coming of Age" ceremony. Anyone turning twenty this year attends the ceremony and the mayor and other officials lecture them on being responsible citizens of Japan. For the 20-year olds, the significance of the day has more to do with being able to legally drink and smoke. Lots of smoking was going on at the ceremony and there was a line of taxis ready to take the crowd to the bars. What was fascinating for us was that the women were all dressed in beautiful and elaborate kimono. A few of the men had on kimono, but most wore suits. Bridget thought it was an interesting contrast to see the kimono-clad women chatting away on their cell phones.
Photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink Folders called Dec Kyoto, Dec Tokyo, Jan Coming of Age
posted by Barbara Meehan Iverson at 6:25 PM
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