A Japanese New Year

This year I took time off of my typical New Year's partying and clubbing scene to spend a more traditional time with some of my friends in Osaka.

I learned a lot this year like if you're going to travel somewhere in Japan for New Year's don't wait for New Year's eve to go. The trains and subways were extremely busy and it made traveling very difficult. Also, when you go home don't wait for the day before everything starts up again because you'll run into even heavier crowds and will thus have an even more hectic trip than before.

Aside from the crazy traveling and manic crowds I had a great time. I met my friends near their house and helped pick out that evening's dinner and beverages. Once back at their house the feasting began. We had kimchi nabe (a dish where everything is cooked in a large pot and everyone takes what they want, similar to soup). It was awesome. There were tons of stuff in it, sausages, tofu, pork, green onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts and cabbage. On top of that we had traditional New Year's food made by my friend's mom (who is an excellent cook). So we ate and watched K-1, drank, ate more and finally passed out around 2am.

The next day we went to the local shrine to pay our New Year's respects to the gods, but when we got there the line was too long and my friends didn't want to wait as it was pretty cold. After returning home we ate more of the New Year's food and watched more tv.

Around dinner time my friend decided he wanted to go to yakiniku. Back home in the States we usually refer to this as Korean bar be que. Yakiniku is one of my favorite things in Japan. It's just so good. The place we went has just one type of sauce (other restaurants may have several different kinds you can choose from) and it was delicious. We loaded up on beer and tons of beef and pork. After dinner my friends and I decided to hit a local karaoke box where we sung out hearts out for about 3 hours. It was great. Our designated driver took me and her husband back to their house and we promptly went to bed.

The next two days were much more sedate and I just lounged around with my friend and watched wacky Japanese New Year's TV. I finally packed up my gear on the 3rd and headed back to Nagoya.

Overall it was a pretty great time. I had a great time with great friends and I feel that I got a good view of Japanese tradition and home culture.