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Published: January 1st 2005
New Years (Japanese Style)
This is a typical New Years decoration. Decorations like this are seen everywhere.Happy New Year!
Happy new year everyone! 2005. Now that all my payments are online I don't have to worry about writing "04" on my checks well into March. After a great deal of deliberation, Jen and I wound up at an Irish pub in the heart of Tokyo. It was one of the least Irish Irish pubs I've ever seen, but they made a nice effort. All the deliberation came about because our last train home was leaving at 11:42 PM and the next one wasn't until 5:30 AM, so we could either stay out all night or go home and celebrate quietly. Even though I am 30 years old (almost 31!) we decided to take the adventurous route. We had a lovely Thai dinner as the snow cascaded and danced outside, then did some surreal shopping in an indoor mall that seemed to sell everything you would have found in a 1950s-era American dime store. We even got those old oh-so-politically-incorrect candy cigarettes. I hadn't seen those since my days as a lad in Hohenwald. We hopped the monorail over to this supposedly fabulous light display that turned out to be canceled, so we hopped the subway for another,
Rainbow Bridge
Famous bridge in Tokyo's Odeiba area. lesser light display that was still pretty good (pics coming soon), then hopped the subway again for the party section of Tokyo, complete with its very own Hard Rock Cafe. That's where we started the night, but we didn't want to spend New Year's Eve in Tokyo in a Hard Rock, so we stumbled across the basement Irish pub and found it perfect. We met some folks from England, Canada, and some natives, and had a great time counting out 2004, all the while mindful of the victims of the earthquake-tsunami, so sorry for them and their loved ones, so thankful we were spending New Year's together. Time flew quickly and before we knew it it was 4 AM. We walked through the blistering cold to the subway where it seemed like half of Tokyo was waiting for the line to start running. It finally did, and after a couple of more switches and one long train ride, we were home again, the morning sun on our faces, some snow still tucked away in dark corners, and 2005 off to a great start.
Countdown 2004
We received our first snowfall yesterday. Most of the snow melted as
O' Christmas Tree.
Although they don't celebrate Christmas, per se, they do like to decorate. soon as it hit the ground, but it was still beautiful to watch. Jeremy and I have spent most of our winter break bundled up inside. In Japan they refer to New Year's Eve as "Countdown". This is a holiday spent with the family, very similar to the way we treat Christmas. We are looking forward to celebrating in Tokyo and will be posting new pictures in the next few days. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and that the year to come brings with it everything you hope for.
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