Happy New Year from Tokyo!
So we arrived safely on the 30th, managed to find our guesthouse (out in the middle of a local neighborhood and shall we say a rather interesting experience), acquired dinner and then promptly passed out. The 31st found us kimono shopping with my friends Maiko and Michael, who live in Yokohama. Tara found an absolutely amazing kimono and obi that, while beautiful and a screaming deal, were very heavy. So we took a quick detour back to the guesthouse to drop off our new kimonos and change into warmer clothes for the new year’s eve celebrations.
Maiko took us to this fantastic ramen place in Shibuya for dinner and then we walked up to Meiji Shine, which is one of the biggest and most famous in Tokyo. The place was packed. Thousands of people were there to celebrate the new year by tossing small amounts of yen as offerings and making a wish for the coming year. It was really cold and there was alot of time just spent standing around waiting to move but it was fun and was definitely an interesting way to bring in the new year.
The only problem was that the train back to our guesthouse had stopped running by the time we got there at around 2. Needless to say we were a little panicked. But an incredibly nice old Japanese man who spoke a little English helped us by directing us to another train that would get us closer to home and saying that would could get a taxi from there. Getting the taxi was another cold and interesting experience but we made it home finally and, after figuring how our heater worked, went to bed.
Well, we’re off to the Imperial Palace right now so I’ll post again later about our adventures in kimono-wearing.
Cool photo! Can’t wait to see the kimono shots!
New Years in Japan sounds interesting indeed!
say hi to Maiko for me?
safe travels!
Mom: Thanks! The next post should be up tonight with a couple shots.
Burd: It was a great deal of fun, definitely one of the best new years I’ve had.
I will when I see her again next week ^-^
hooray ^^