Mall in New Year

When I dropped by a mall on my way home, it was crowded with people. And somehow the malls are where people get together in Japan these days. And I was also one of them.

 As I explained in the first posting for this year, we put an Ema on the bars at a shrine. But these Emas were fake and made of paper. Perhaps kids also wanted to do the same thing as people do at the shrine on New Year's.

 

The rectangular plate on the red gate (Torii) says "Loc shrine". This mall is called "Loc City" so they must have named the area after it. I went to a shrine on the 1st of this month, and as you can see in this pic, the shrines are so important to us especially in January. 

 

A very huge Pikachu, in which kids can jump and run around. The Japanese kids are so familiar with Pikachu that we often see pics or stuffed toys of Pikachu everywhere. I guess it is like The Simpsons as far as the popularity among kids is concerned.

 

It says "Pokemon DP Adventure Park", where kids can experience many kinds of Pokemon attractions. 

 

These bags are sold in the beginning of January and called "Fukubukuro", which means "Fortune bag". Take a look at the flier being hung. It shows what is included in the bag and it costs about 109 us dollars. Years ago, we couldn't guess what was inside but now they reveal what the bag has.

 

We Japanese are very familiar with this girl named Becky. She is one of the celebrities very active on TV. She has a father from England, which is why she looks like this. But she speaks Japanese mainly, and she can't speak English very correctly. Then again she's one of the hottest girls in Japan. 

 

 I saw some jigsaw puzzles in the electric appliance shop in the mall. Some of you might wonder why it sells Moe jigsaw puzzles, but it seemed to me they always cash in on what's very hot among young people. 

 

And Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion is still one of those hot things.

 

 

Now Haruhi is a fixture in Japan's shopping areas. Still I think many people aren't familiar with Haruhi, and Aya Hirano might be known to less than a third of our population. But a Haruhi movie will be released next month, by which we can see it's becoming more and more popular. 

I was going to show you only things related to New Year's, but ended up taking pics of some anime stuff as well. Like I said before not all the people are for anime, but at least Pikachu is accepted by the adult and preteen demographic. But Haruhi anime hasn't been watched by as many people. I wonder why people discriminate against Moe anime while allowing kids to see Pokemon. >.<

Karakuan (Japanese-styled coffee shop)

As we welcomed the new year, I decided to have a coffee the Japanese way to celebrate the start of 2010. 

We have several coffee shops in my city that include Starbucks, Tully's, Doutor, and Bad Ass Coffee, which I introduced last month, but this "Karakuan" offers very "Japanese-styled" coffee and sweets. This shop in my city opened a year or so ago.

What do you think of this outside look? In my opinion, this shop's structure looks like houses that existed back in the Edo period(1603-1868), and I think this old-styled look draws people who are nostalgic for old days. 

 

There was a coffee roaster. Though I'm a coffee maniac I'm not familiar with coffee machines. 

Many kinds of coffee beans were available. They seemed expensive to me, and for example the coffee beans named "Sarashina" cost about 4.6 us dollars/100g. All the coffee beans you are seeing have Japanese names. 

 

Some people would say this shop's interior resembles the ones that popped up in the '60s. So those who aged over 60 would feel at home in this shop. 

 

 Japanese gardens make me feel at peace. You can see this garden through the windows of the shop. Ordinary Japanese houses sometimes have this kind of garden. But ones that are well-kept like this can't be easily seen in our neighborhood. 

 

I ordered an iced coffee named "Ookagami", which means "Big mirror" and sweets named "Anmitsu pudding". "Anmitsu" was mainly had during the summer, but it is now available all through the year. I don't want to exaggerate, but this sweets tasted superb. 

 

 A close-up pic of the Anmitsu pudding. Would you like to try this? Come to Japan and see how good it is. 

Some Japanese people like to have a dish called "Osechi" during New Years, but some like to have western foods like fried chicken, pizza. But during this time of a year most of us like to spend the time the Japanese way. This is because New Year's is the time when we recognize we are Japanese after all.

Year of Tiger

 In Japan the period from January 1st to 3rd is very important and most people are on vacation.

 

This year is considered to be a year of the Tiger, according to the Oriental Zodiac. There are 12 animals in the Oriental Zodiac, so every 12 years we have a year of the Tiger. This year people who are going to be 12, 24, 36... , or an age multiplied by 12, were born in a year of the Tiger.

And people put this kind of figurine on the table through the year. 

 

This is an example of the Oriental Zodiac. it starts with Rat, followed by Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, and Pig.

 

We send new year's cards to close friends, relatives and colleagues. And these cards often have the year's animal printed on. 

 

People make their original cards on the computer, but you can order some at a photo shop or home center.

 

But these days young people don't send the new year's cards and instead send emails. This card exchanging tradition is beginning to be obsolete even among old people. 

 

This is called "Kagami mochi". As seen in the episode 12 （at 0:24) of Lucky Star, "Kagami" means mirror. And "mochi" means rice cake. This rice cake is called mirror because in the ancient times of Japan mirrors were round-shaped.

People put this kind of ornament on the front door of the house. It is said a god called "Toshigami" comes to one's house and settles on this ornament. By welcoming the god, we can spend the new year without any misfortune.

Anyway these things are some of the symbols of New Year's in Japan. Hope everybody in the world will have a happy new year :)

New Year's visit to a shrine (Hatsumoude)

I've just come back from a shrine after saying prayers. Let me show you how Japanese people visit a shrine.

As seen in the episode 12 of Lucky Star, people visit a shrine in the middle of the night on the first day of a new year. And as a Japanese, I drove to a nearby shrine so that I would be blessed by God this year. This is the entrance of the shrine and it is called "Torii".

 As it passed 12pm and we welcomed a new year, somebody set off fireworks. You can see people lining up to say prayers. I arrived at this shrine 5 minutes before the midnight, but people were already waiting for the new year to come. 

 

 There were many kinds of charms. And what you see in the center is called "Ema", on which people write their wishes. It cost about 6.6 us dollars. But if my wish comes true, it must be worth paying.

 

We are supposed to hang an "Ema" on these bars. As I was one of the people who came very early, there weren't many Emas being hung.  

 

I chose this "Ema" to make my wish come true. The words you're seeing on the right say "You will have luck and fortune". 

 

Writing "World Peace" may be good, but I did my duty as an otaku. For those who can' t read it:"Hope we have a second season of Lucky Star". I'm sure many anime otakus are hoping for the same thing, so I represented those people. 

 

This is a sacred lot. It says I will have a bit of luck. Not too bad. I was sweating if I might draw a bad luck. I know whether people can spend a new year comfortably depends on their effort, but we all want God to be on our side.

The purpose of going to the shrine was of course to say prayers, but I was secretly hoping to see shrine maidens. And in fact I saw three shrine maidens working. But I stopped short of taking pics of them due to their privacy. Sorry you guys. But as for me, I felt really happy to see the fireworks at the shrine and hope you enjoy seeing those pics =)