Japanese New Year: Oshogatsu Festival 2014

The New Year celebration in Japan is called the Oshogatsu Festival. It's more solemn and traditional as compared to that of the Philippines, and other Western countries.

For the New Year's eve, we travelled to Tokyo to celebrate it with my Japanese uncle and his mother. But before heading to their house in Tokyo, we stopped by Hachioji to shop for food at Costco. There were so many shoppers getting ready for the NYE.

When we arrived at my uncle's house, we cleaned it up a bit then we headed to the onsen (public bath). There were actually a lot of customers that night. After that, we picked up my cousin and aunt's bestfriend at the bus station and we went to Don Quijote to go shopping. Imagine, it's around 10pm and we're still shopping on NYE.

We all went back to the house and got ready for the NYE dinner (Media Noche in Pinoy culture). We had a very simple NYE dinner. The staple food for NYE dinner in Japan is the soba. After dinner, we headed to the Jindaiji Temple. It's a tradition in Japan to visit shrines/temples on NYE. There were a lot of people lining up to throw coins and pray or make a wish. Surprisingly, I saw a lot of groups of young people at the temple. While some were at the New Year countdown at Shibuya crossing and in some clubs/bars, there were still a long of youngsters who still celebrate the NYE traditionally. 

year of the horse

wine

food!

small temple

main temple (while we were in line)

that's a small fountain

while waiting for our turn

where people get their omikuji

The next day, we had brunch. We shared the "osechi", a set of traditional Japanese New Year food in a special box called, "jubako". Each food symbolizes something, such as health, wealth, and good fortune. After brunch, we hit Harajuku area for shopping. New Year's Day shopping is probably the craziest shopping day of the year in Japan. I'll be making a different post about it, as this post focuses on Japanese New Year.

Anyway, the next day, my aunt's friend gave me an "otoshidama" or New Year money, along with an "omikuji", a piece of paper that talks about my fortune. Unfortunately, I got bad fortune, or "kyo". I must get at least a "kichi" or blessing. To reverse the bad fortune, we went to Suwataisha Temple and tied the piece of paper containing bad fortune at the temple. Then I picked a new number. When I got the piece of paper, it read "kichi", or blessing. Finally! Well, you can check Wikipedia on their meanings.

really bad fortune (1st omikuji)

Suwataisha Temple

me and my aunt

Onbashira

big Japanese drum

people waiting for their turns to pray

must let go of the bad luck by my first omikuji

getting a number (it's written on a stick)

then there's a corresponding omikuji for the number that I got

it's their version of holy water

the main entrance

tried it for the first time

traditional Japanese house

So that's the traditional Japanese New Year. Far from how I usually celebrate it in the Philippines, but this experience has been really worth it.


xoxo,

city girl

My Last-minute Japan Trip

As a reward for finishing graduate school, my aunt granted my wish to spend winter in Japan (where she's residing with her family). It's my 3rd 3-month trip to Japan but it's my first time during winter 'cause I usually go during spring. It was a last minute trip because there have been some delays in our (me and my grandmother) visa application. Our visa was released late in the afternoon of November 26, so we were able to pick it up from the agency on the morning of the 27th. That day we confirmed and paid for our ticket, which has been pre-booked on the 28th. We only had the afternoon and night of the 27th to pack our stuff because our flight was at 5am the next day. Each roundtrip ticket (Manila-Narita-Manila) cost Php 24,000 (taxes included) via Delta Airlines. The trip was too sudden that I didn't have the time to say bye to my friends.

luggage :)

super early flight

with the granny

Anyway, I was satisfied with Delta. The ground crew and the cabin crew were very nice and efficient. Thanks to the pilot, we had a smooth flight (especially the landing and the take off). We travelled for 4 hours. However, there was a long queue at the immigration gates so it took us an hour before getting out of Narita Airport. My uncle came to get us. It's a 4 to 5-hr drive from Narita to Suwa, Nagano (my aunt's apartment) so we had lunch brunch first at the nearest service area. Since the weather's too cold (less than 10 degrees Celsius), I got a ramen.

the view before landing at Narita

udon

spicy ramen

My grandmother only stayed 'til December 14. She usually travels with me to Japan and stays for 3 months but this time, she just stayed for 2 weeks since she preferred spending Christmas in the Philippines, plus she'll be coming back here with my cousin on March (spring) for 3 months again. But during the two weeks she's here, we've been going to different places, dining and shopping. We often go to onsen (hot spring) too to relax.

aunt's bedroom

cousin's bedroom

i love buying veggies for the healthy meals I make

it's a dream come true! haha always wanted to try this :))

One place we're visiting often is Matsumoto City (Nagano). We love shopping at Don Quijote, a place with literally everything under the sun. It has lots of cute stuff too, plus some branded items such as bags and jewelries. Hard Off, a recycle shop there is a must visit too. Some of the second hand items there actually look new. And of course, we've visited a lot of Daiso (100 yen) shops too.

Edion Mall (electronics)

kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi)

Starbucks tumbler Nagano

ear muffs :)

no Green tea flavor :(

road trip :)

ramen and gyoza love

shoe lockers at the resto

Japanese food overload...and it didn't cost nor taste cheap.

vendo!

one of the best ramen places

used stuffed toys that actually looked new

lovin' these neon kitchenware from Daiso

So I spent Christmas with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and my aunt's bestfriend. (I call my aunt Tita Mama because she's like my second mom). Christmas is just like a usual day in Japan ('cause they're not Christians); however, they acknowledge the Christmas-New Year holidays  that's why they have Christmas-New Year Sale too. On Christmas Even, we exchanged gifts, had Noche Buena, and Skyped with our families in the Philippines. It wasn't a white Christmas because it didn't snow that night/day, but I'm glad to have experienced winter Christmas.

the winter halo before Christmas

our mini Christmas tree and Coach presents :)

Christmas cake

fruits

Noche Buena plus Skype w/ the fam in the Phils

with my cousin in our Santa Claus costumes

Christmas hoodie! haha

More of my Japan trip in my upcoming posts.

xoxo,

city girl :)