Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Happy New Year
I've discovered a new group! We met in Kyoto at Yasaka Shrine. These eager Japanese English language students showed us some of the Japanese New Year's traditions today. It is very popular to visit a shrine in the first days of the New Year. Many people offer money and pray for a prosperous New Year. They showed us how to rinse our hands and mouths at the spring fed fountain before praying at the shrine. How to bow and throw some coins and pray. We did a walking tour through the Gion District and spied a few Maiko, young girls in training to be Geisha. We ended the afternoon in a wonderful upstairs room tasting osechi-ryori, traditional New Year's fare. A small sampling consisted of burdock root for good health, lotus root (it's hollow) for a bright future, sweet sardines for a good harvest, black soybeans (they represent hardships) but they are eaten for good health, yellow tail (buri) for a successful continuation of family lines. Great day shared with lovely Japanese folks as well as guests from all over the world.

By the way:
I just found this clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle that i brought back to Japan with me:

"Dead Editor: First flashes of the earthquake's cataclysmic devastation in that quadrant of the world (Indonesia) may begin to put into perspsective the puny conceptions of 'security' for which this nation puts its Constitution at risk.
May we rejoin the world in 2005 in united humility, generosity, poise and with tempered leadership."

Well said.