New Years Japan Style!

So HOW ARE YOU ALL????? Wow it's 2006!!! Amazing eh!

Man and to think just a few years ago we were all going "oh my god I can't believe it's the year 2000" freaky man, that's like...thats like the FUTURE you know?

Yeah, that was a good one that year. I was holed up in a woolshed with a bunch of other holidaymakers at a Goat Island camping ground having one of the best New Years I've had yet whilst everyone else round New Zealand got drenched by torrential rain. heh heh ahhh good times :)

And I'd have to say this New Years would be right up there with that one on my list, but it was completely different!

THIS YEAR i forsaked the drunken revelry and did it the Japanese way! And you know what - it was SO GOOD to wake up and start the New Year feeling fresh and revived! Here's a short account of my experiences....

Firstly, you start the New Years eve day by stripping naked :)

.....and then proceed to scrub yourself clean, before dipping into variously temperatured steaming hot rock pools.

This is called an Onsen (hot spring) and is the favoured way to relax in Japan. They're a leeetle different to hot pools at home though in the sense that you get completely starkers and therefore girls and boys bathe separately thank you very much.

There was a bit of a furore though when one poor very bewilered, VERY elderly lady wandered out the wrong door from the changing rooms and into the main reception area instead of the Onsen where she was clearly headed cos she hadn't a skint of clothing on! OH DEAR!

Poor thing. I was taking a break from bathing and getting a foot massage at the time. Thought it would add to my relaxing experience - oh how I was WRONG!

My god I have never felt anything so excruiciatingly painful in my life! Dear lord it was all I could do to keep from squealing in pain as they crunched and twisted my poor little bones in their cement crusher hands.

I really feared I would never walk again.


Fortunately, though I plucked up enough courage to make it to lunch - it really is amazing the lengths I will go to for food I tell you :)

Today it was Soba Noodles. This is what Japanese families traditionally eat on New Years eve and it's not bad although I did feel rather like a cannibal having to eat the little "Fern plants" that were floating in my bowl.

Contrary to popular Western tradition the polite way to eat your noodles here is to make LOUD slurping noises as you go. To not do so is offensive to the chef as he'll think you don't like them and then perhaps take to you with a swift karate chop or swinging samurai sword or something.

I never did find out what the consequences of this offence were as the restaurant was full and EVERYBODY was slurping with gusto! (i'll leave you to imagine what that sounds like :)

Everyone except for me that is. I was just proud that I could manage noodles with CHOPSTICKS but slurping was impossible without getting bits of soup splattered all over my face - lord knows how the Italians do it!



Now I must explain here that New Years and Christmas in Japan are celebrated opposite to New Zealand.

Christmas Day is for time with your friends and New Years is for time with your family.

So it was that I found myself ringing in the new dawn with the Fuji family sharing drinks and nibbles of the most disgusting variety I've ever tasted in my life, but you know what I just LOVED it!

I loved that it was new and completely different and something that I'd never tried before :)

I ate the notorious Nato (fermented soy beans) whose texture alone is quite frightening (like something someone spit up), but the smell is even worse - like old mouldy shoes!

Tried dried squid AND even a fish SO INCREDIBLY STINKY and UTTERLY FOUL that not even most Japanese people will eat it.

It's called Kusaya and it really does have the WORST smell you could ever come across - just completely ROTTEN!

Thing is though, it doesn't taste bad. I held my nose as directed and there was no problem at all. Until I unblocked my nostrils.

The putrid stench from inside my nose was soooo awful I had to stifle myself from dry wretching, desperately gulp down some strong alcohol, brush my teeth twice, gargle pure sulphuric acid and the awful stench still presided until morning!


Then we ate yet MORE fish! Japanese have a traditional meal on New Years day (see photos on Bebo) and all the food represents good luck of some kind - eg for business, family, health etc. It's really cool how they prepare it to - looks gorgeous!

Pity that most of it is Octopus (crunchy!), salmon roe, whole shrimps and other assorted FISHY stuff!


Later that morning we went to the Shrine to pray for good luck.

At the bigger temples they're so crowded people wait up to three hours queing to pray so they sometimes throw their coins forward from the back and rumour has it if you stand in line wearing a hooded jersey you can make quite a profit from this - i wouldn't count on having much good luck for the rest of the year though!

Our temple wasn't so crowded and I even got to meet the head honcho guy who told my Japanese friends he was impressed with how I understood Nihongo (Japanese) because I was smiling and nodding at him during their conversation.

Actually, I don't understand much at all and have instead just got very good at trying to GUESS what people are saying to me!

They have a cool tradition at the temple where you burn your old things from the past year on a bonfire to make room for the New.


I really like that idea. You know, of not carrying over stuff, of letting it go and making room for new opportunities. After all nature abhors a vaccum as they say.

I liked the pampering and refreshing of the Onsen too. LOVED the idea of preparing yourself for the New Year so you can start it fresh and clean and in your best spirits.

The Japanese say that how you start the first day of your year is a mirror of how the rest of it will be so you should try to start it in the best possible way.


So that's how I started my year and that's how I hope for it to continue.

I wish you all the best of luck too and I can't wait to hear how your years have started for you!

Love heaps,
Fernleaf