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Published: January 18th 2008
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Mochi tsuki!
The mochi making party at Happy Global, a local english conversation tutoring company run by our friends Masaya and Dan. Japanese vocabulary -
shiroi netsu: literally translate to “white fever”, but we use it to refer to Japanese women who are obsessed with foreign men…a counter part to “yellow fever”- where white men are obsessed with asian women.
-
oshogatsu: the Japanese new year that spans from new year’s eve to January 3
-
akemashite omedetou!: Happy New Year! In Japanese, the full version is
akemashite omedetougozaimasu! -
furusato: one’s home or origin…kind of has a nostalgic feel to it…like your roots or referring to “the old country” sort of thing…
It was nice to be back in warm sunny California and visit with family again…although going back to Japan felt different this time…I guess I had a better idea of what I was missing out on at home- the people, the food, the scenery. I know that I probably won’t be back for another year or so, since tickets are rather expensive…especially since after this last flight, I have decided NEVER to fly United economy class AGAIN!!! It SUCKED!!! I have never been so sick on a flight before! I threw up, like, 6 times!!! SIX TIMES! Averaged out, that’s once every 2 hours!
First of all, the
more mochi
The kids who came were so cute! flight, normally 9.5-10.5 hours, was 12 hours because of headwinds. Second, United is the worst (but cheapest!!!). The seats are soooooo narrow, there are 3 movie screens for all the people in economy class and the food is a far second to even the worst of all
kyushoku (even today’s which was ice cold…one piece of
ebifurai - fried shrimp, little bits of broccoli and cauliflower overboiled, weird meatball soup and hot dog bun…so unsatisfying). Somehow my meal was partially burnt and partially uncooked…and then after the meal service, the plane smells like nasty gross food for the rest of the ride…then there’s the crying children and general lack of patience. Luckily I was close to the bathroom. Had I been at the emergency exit, I probably would have jumped.
But anyways, being in the delicate condition I was, and Zach’s flight experience on Northwest apparently worse, we definitely eased our way into the New Year.
Oshogatsu in Japan is generally a family event and mostly quiet…not the big parties and champagne (darn)…in fact the countdown goes by without much notice at all. It usually last from New Year’s eve to January 3rd, with family time, visits to mother
and father’s families and returning to one’s
furusato. They also eat
o-sechi ryouri, special Oshogatsu food.
The day after I came back to Japan, Zach and I went to a friend’s
mochitsuji…our friend’s Masaya and Dan run an
eikaiwa company called Happy Global. The company held the mochi making party for their students and we were invited to come along and help out. The kids were sooooooooo cute and the mochi making was a fun and scalding experience as always. In addition to regular mochi, we made ohagi and shrimp flavored pink mochi.
New Year’s eve we visited some friends in Osaka, Sarah and Ryan (our JET Bachan and Jichan), and went out to a club called Pure (hahahaha!). It was…meh. Basically it’s a club that caters to 1. foreigners in general (all the bartenders speak English), 2. foreign bootsies (men) with yellow fever and 3. Japanese hoooooooooooooochie mamas who have
shiroi netsu…so basically it’s an all you can drink meat market in the middle of Osaka. Anyhow, it wasn’t all that great and all I kept thinking was that if a fire broke out in the club everyone would definitely die…it was THAT crowded. Plus some guy
ruined my night when I yawned and he tried to stick his finger in my mouth so then I punched him (instinctively out of being raised with 3 brothers). BUT, it was definitely fun hanging out and seeing good friends and I was happy to bring in the New year with everyone! For some reason the pre-party before, the pigging out on junk food at 24 hour restaurant and the train rides to and from that are always the most eventful ;-)
On New year’s day we just took it easy and watched some of the Planet Earth Series. That’s pretty much it….
On the second, Zach and I visited his local Kokawa Temple. I was such a beautiful day- blue skies, children running around and families praying. Then we were picked up by Masaya (happy global man) who took us to his parents house in south Osaka prefecture. This is where we had our first taste of Osechi ryori- Masaya’s mom is a great cook and we enjoyed fish eggs (ew), ebifurai, various fried things, tonkatsu, kuromame (black beans), small fish and beans and gobo among other things. His family used to grow mikan, but now raise
mochi!
The pink has dried shrimp added and the white is just normal mochi rice. shitake mushrooms.
On the third, we went to our beloved Koyasan for some more Oshogatsu. So far we have seen Koya in every season along the way, and I have to say, I think thus far, I enjoy it in winter the most. It was a beautiful blue sky day and there was a perfect layer of fresh white snow. It wasn’t very crowded at all and it felt so peaceful and quiet. Since there wasn’t too many people, the snow was often untouched and unmarred by footprints. I was so beautiful.
And that was pretty much my first Japanese oshogatsu. Still no champagne, but oh well…can’t have everything!
Akemashite Omedetou!!! Happy New Year everyone!
開けましておめでたおう!!!
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Brother Brent
non-member comment
two fingers....ONE Finger?!
umm yeah in that picture of you and your friend Sarah, I see you holding up two peace loving fingers in the air...and your friend Sarah.....yeah. One finger...is it? can it be? theeeee middle finger? weird because i thought that meant....