Nippon News - Volume 2 Issue 2 - New Year

It appears that an emerging local Christmas tradition for some Japanese is to order in KFC as a treat for the whole family! As odd as this seems, you have to consider that in Japanese culture there is no tradition of cooking turkey (although one flight attendant prevailed on Jay to provide a receipe for this), and if you want to try this Western delicacy, what are you going to do? The Venerated Colonel Sanders-san has the answer!

Although Christmas is not a Japanese holiday, the New Year is. This is somewhat surprizing since Japan officially follows their own calendar, which is dated from the Emporer's reign. I think it is currently Year 18. However, the Japanese do get into the celebration of the New Year in a big way, and use the Western Calendar to do it!

The tradition of celebrating the New Year is based on the belief that it is a time for a New Beginning. Many local shops and stores were busy cleaning up their buildings, repairing items that had been neglected during the year, and otherwise preparing for another year. Many of the surrounding stores were closed, and the local trains were very quiet, although Della and Scott found the Shinkanzen filled to capacity as people travelled back to their hometowns to be with their families for the holidays. Della and Scott had gone to Osaka to visit friends and tour the city.

Traditional New Year celebrations call for three days of eating only rice cakes and miso soup to purify oneself, and for the drinking of sake rice wine that is white. Normally a white, clear liquid, this special sake is made by leaving in the husk of the rice shell. (by the way, wearing white here is the traditional color of mourning; not black. However, if a couple does a Western Wedding, which many do since it is a splashy affair compared to a Shinto wedding, white is worn by the bride).

We spent New Years Eve with a small party at Sandra and Jay's apartment watching Japanese TV and trying to figure out what was going on. There was no ball dropping on Times Square or celebrations from around the world, since for you it was the morning of the last day of 2005. The TV Special we watched was an odd affair, featuring a well-known comedy team. The smaller of the two men was stripped down to just a loin-cloth and left standing outside in weather that was at Zero Degrees. Then, for the next hour he was subjected at points to humilition, being doused with cold water, and even slapped on the face. He was forced to read his New Year Resolutions aloud in Public, which is a necessary tradition here in Japan, and resulted in cheers and jeers from the live audience. Then, most bizarre of all, the guy donned a red jumpsuit and helmet and stood at the bottom of a large ramp, at the top of which was a large ball and at the side of which stood a model of a dragon that was about 30 feet tall.

The dragon's tail was then lit on fire, and about 20 minutes later it had burned up to the head and ignited the large ball perched on the ramp. Next, a flaming ball about 8 feet high was released down the ramp, heading straight for the guy. We could not figure out what he was supposed to do; but in the end he jumped aside and the ball rolled past. Not deterred, a large industrial crane hoised a second ball in place on the ramp, it was lit once again, and the guy was forced once more to stand at the bottom of the ramp. This time the camera lost sight of the guy was the ball rolled past and at the conclusion of the stunt he was found face-down in the mud! After more apparantly hilarious humiliations, the little guy was again stripped down to his loin-cloth and the climax of the show was him turning around to reveal that he had Happy New Year written on his butt! I somehow can't see this becoming a Western tradition.

The next morning we participated in another Japanese tradition for New Years Day; visiting a shrine. A famous Japanese shrine is torn down completely and rebuilt every 20 years in exactly the same form using the same materials. This is done not as a need, but as an act of renewal.

On New Year Day I noted some sort of Do-Dad placed over entrances to shops and houses, on the radiators of cars, dangling from the mirros of buses, and even worn on the lapels of coats and jackets. Often featuring bamboo and green plants, and with red and white colors, it must be symbolic of the season, but how exactly, I am not sure. These decorations were so prominent I started referring to January 1 as All Do-Dad Day!

We took the subway to a major park downtown and followed a large path with many others that led to a Shinto Shrine. About 400 yards from the shrine we found ourselves at a stand-still, in a crowd of thousands of other people who were intent on doing the same thing. We waited in line for about an hour, inching ourselves forward as room as made. However, the Japanese were orderly, disciplines and clearly prepared for such an event. A large screen TV alternately played directions, film of the ceremony and public announcements. Police in special cars gave instructions over megaphones, and there were displays of traditonal sake drums stacked at the side of the path to inspect as we shuffled past. The photo on the left is of Jay, Scott, Jean and myself in front of the sake drums.

Normally, entering a temple calls for one to be purified by fresh water available outside. One is supposed to dip a ladle in the water and wash first the right and then the left hand, moisten the face and drink (or pretend to drink) the water. However, with a crowd this size that was not possible and we eventually shuffled straight into the temple. Likewise, the bathing of ones self in incense was dispensed with. In the shrine the crowd threw money onto the apron in front, and the tinking of the coins was like rain hitting a metal roof. Some prayed by bowing, clapping three times to attract the attention of the gods, uttering a short prayer, clapping once to let the poor thing know that you were done and it could then go back about its business, bowing and backing away. Many people there had donned traditional Japanese clothing for the ritual.

This duty done, one then was directed to the side of the shrine, where the path away from the shrine was located. There were booths all along the route way from the shrine and they offered souviners for sale, the most prominent of which is an arrow without the head, which I have seen incorporated into many Shinto Shrines. I must find out what the significance of this icon is. The photo at the left is us enjoying a warm sake; note the official Arrow Do-Dad in one of Sandra's hands.

Other booths offered for sale prayers (by writing them out on wooden chips and tieing them to a rack), fortunes (both paper and plam-reading), and snacks such as chocolates, pastries and fish. At the end of the path was a large food-court with big booths purveying all kinds of goodies. We inspected them with interest and discovered noodles being ladelled into large steaming bowls, dumplings being boiled, econo-maki being cooked on an industrial scale, soup, some sort of a fish-on-a-stick being bake in front of a fire, and tea and warm sake for sale. The crowd eagerly scooped up these treats and sat or stood in the centre courtyard. At the side were shops selling everything from chopsticks, to ceramics and block prints.

at this point another of those remarkable incidents of kindness on the behalf of the Japanese people occurred. As Gaijin, [foreigners], we natually stood out, and people would note our curosity and interest in what to them was mundane. Sandra had asked what was in the steamed white buns being offered for sale (it was a tomato paste spread), and, seeing our interest, a Japanese couple sent their two kids over to present us with two trays of the treat as a gift to us! It is this kind of generous and unforced kindess that has been overwhelming at times. The Japanese culture is unique in its care for the group; one has only to pause in a train station and someone invariably offers assistance in finding your way. Often the person will go out of their way to help you; taking you to the platform, buying a ticket for you, drawing a map and ensuring that you get on the right train. In a restaurant, people at a nearby table will come over to help us with the menu. It is remarkable, and personally I will look for an opportunity to extend the hand of friendship to travellers back in Canada. I can only wonder how they react when confronted with Western culture, which is considerably cooler and more distant, especially in large cities.

Chatting with the Japanese couple and their two children, they were surprized to learn that we were not American. Canadians have the reputation of being a little goofy, but essentially a harmless people, and their land is thought of as vast, beautiful and natural. Remember, Whistler Glacier Water is a big seller here, and we saw HD film of Whistler, Vancouver and Banff being displayed on TV sets in the Sony Tower in downtown Tokyo. Jay and I dropped by the Maple Leaf Pub in Shubyia, and found it serves Blue, Poutine, a cheeseburger, fries and all of the other haut-cuisine we Canadian so love, except for the Joe Louis bar and canned peas!

Sited Along The Way:

• a 'Salaryman' on a downtown street in a black business suit saying goodby to someone on his cellphone while bowing deeply from the waist in respect;
• that the 'River Chicken' on the menu is really Liver - Chicken. (as in Chicken Liver - Remember, the Japanese have trouble with their 'Rs');
• for the same reason as above, a sandwich labelled as 'Derecious";
• a major hotel downtown complete with a two-story bowling alley.
• what your pocket might contain after a day out-and-about. The big gold ones are 500-yen coins ($5), the silver are 100-yen, the one with the hole in it is 50-yen, the big copper is 10 yen and a 1-yen coin is seen as well.
• Japanese postmen zipping about in their little motorbikes, making their 'rounds'

Happy New Year Everyone; all the best for 2006

Doug-San in Japan