sekainozomi (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sekainozomi) wrote,@ 2008-01-11 12:35:00 |
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| Entry tags: | hokkaido scenery, new years 2008 |
The Year of the Rat (2008) in the Japanese countryside!
Those who know me well won't find it strange at all that it has taken me 11 days to make a New Year's post. That's par for the chaotic course, isn't it? Unfortunately, in the past I've taken better pictures. Sadly, all of those pictures would require scanning and I'm just not up for that. Instead, I'll share over 40 other shots from our New Year's celebration in Iwamizawa. 
These are kani...crabs. They are not my friends because I have a seafood allergy. Over the years, we've more or less learned how to co-exist. Kani are essential for any country-side New Years Eve celebration. Soba noddles, traditionally eaten at midnight, came later, only I didn't take pictures of those.
Here is a tray of fish. Can you guess which ones? Mercifully, I'm only allergic to one of them.
Here is a plate of traditional foods sitting next to a tray of eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables.
After stuffing themselves silly, the kids play an alternative version of Go called Gonarabei (five in a row)...which seems to have morphed into something else called Shi-San (four in a row by three in a row). These games were endless.
It's time for bed. This year, we all opted to sleep downstairs together. There are several more futons that didn't make the shot.
On New Years Day, hubby and I went to the shrine. So did everyone else.
Everyone really wants to appease the Shinto Gods...
Opps...the line is longer up close!
Did I mention it was cold? Sadly, this is considered a WARM day!
The line is so long there's time to contemplate whether or not to read our fortunes here. All we need to do is donate 100 yen and choose the slips according to our birthdays. I wonder how many people choose, but don't pay? We opted not to participate in this.
There's still a long way to go!
We are finally getting somewhere.
These people are properly purifying themselves. Not us. It's too cold. I'm sure the Shinto Gods exempt Hokkaido and Aomori people from this ritual.
We've made it to the top. First we donate, then we pray.
Afterwards, we collected our good luck charms for the year. Mine is red. His is purple.
These people did not have good fortunes, thus, they hung their readings here and asked the Gods to help them out a bit more.
These people were a little more explicit about needing help!
Now it's our turn. He made his donation.
He then randomly selected his fortune.
This year, he gets BIG LUCK!
I get future luck (luck in the end). :(
Although it's too late to purify ourselves, we want to check this out anyway.
There are directions, ya'll!!!
No one's here at the moment. We're all going to hell.
On the way out, we purchase some Tokyo Cakes...plain, nothing inside!
We also marvel at the snow. This is nowhere near the peak.
Endless snow.
The kids love the snow. They even made their own little slope.
They made it down safely.
They enjoy having their pictures taken.
Somebody's having a wee bit of trouble getting outside!
Someone else is doing something naughty!
It's January 2, 2008 and we're ready to return home. As usual, there is a storm.
The tree is unhappy.
Sigh!
Everyone else wants to go somewhere, too.
The train will not be deterred...trust me.
This looks like a train, but we call it a three-car bus!
Almost no one uses the bridge in the background.
A sign leading to civilization!
The sun has run away!
Civilization can be gaudy!
Someone left snow on my sidewalk! I'm grateful I don't need to shovel it.
The car is grateful for road heating and so are we!!! No more shoveling in the parking lot!
That's all folks. I promise to never make a huge post like this again. Different goodies forthcoming next year.
