omedeto

Great Japan -
a foreigner also attends
the new year's service!

haiku by Issa, 1793

while new year's eve passes almost unnoticed, in japan the first day of the year is at the same time the first event of the year, centered around family and fortune.
with pieter I share a colorful list of new year's celebrations abroad, but little did we know, on a couch in brooklyn exactly one year ago, about the forces of fortune that would bring us together again this year, on this side of the globe... in yokohama, with kana, and her family.



a festive day stuffed with shinto rituals, too many to even start explaining...
just remember
>> whatever you do on new year's day sets the mood for the rest of the year (that's why for example the food is preprepared on the 31st - who wants to cook the whole year?) >> every vegetable on the new year's table has a meaning >> the special new year's sake is so sweet you only need to wet your lips >> to make black beans more shiny, boil them for ten hours in a broth of iron nails >> still more fatal than beans with nails is mochi, the typical new year sticky rice cakes >> through the hole in a coin you can see the future >> it takes hours and a license to help a girl into a kimono



>> bad luck for shinto men turning 25, 42, and 61 in 2005, and for shinto women turning 19, 33 (povera kana), and 37



>> good luck for those who see fujisan on new year's day (even better luck for those who climb it to see the first sunrise of the year from the country's highest spot) >> 'omedeto' means happy new year


click on thumbnails for some yokohama classics

after lunch and temple visits (sake at both) we strolled along yokohama's waterfront, the cruiseship terminal, all the way to the old city and chinatown. walking, talking (italian), laughing, drinking coffee - a comforting idea this is waiting for me in the rest of 2005...