Christmas and New Year's in Japan

Saishoin Temple in Hirosaki on NYE.

I have never spent Christmas or New Years outside of Mexico and the USA, this was the first time I spent it away from family ( I mean Akira joined for New Year's does he count as fam? no se.)

Let's start with Christmas, it has always been one of my favorite holidays. Christmas time is always warm and just all-around full of good vibes, family and happiness. I guess that is where "tis the season" comes from. This 2017 Christmas was so different for me. It is not a national holiday in Japan so people still work. Although it is not a recognized national holiday all the stores sell candy and Christmas themed everything! Some people have also told me it is more of a romantic holiday if anything were couples do couple stuff. I guess the "American" media always wraps some love story around Christmas time in movies. An interesting fact is that in Japan people have KFC for Christmas dinner! They order their Kentucky Fried Chicken in advance to have a traditional "American Dinner" I guess back in 1974 KFC launched a crazy campaign in Japan urging people to have an "American" Christmas meal.. or a "Kurisumasu ni wa kentakki!", I know super odd but it has stuck around since. I wanted to participate in this craze but when Christmas came around I was not really craving KFC...

The KFC Christmas packages and pre-order table. 

Instead I  hosted a lil co-worker get-together/Christmas party at my apartment:

I made pizza, taco rice (Okinawa dish), honey salmon w/avocado, pasta and salads! (I am learning to cook ya'll;))

The delicious and beautiful Christmas cake one of my guests brought.

Don't get it twisted. Showing our talents off. 

And then I had a small get-together with my neighbors and they brought this over to my house:

gingerbread house!

and a lovely gift for me:

HK blanket. It is very cold up in Aomori. 

My co-worker left on Christmas eve so I visited the Warasse Neputa Museum in Aomori after I dropped her off at the airport. Here are some of the floats from 2017. So beautiful.:

After my weird 2017 Christmas I was just antsy, waiting for Akira to arrive to Japan. It was a nightmare for him getting here, he ended up being stuck in Calgary on Christmas, it sucked. He had over 10 delays. After some lost Japanese yen, other valuables, delays, a night in calgary and many interactions with airline staff, Akira made it to Japan.  Sigh it was stressful. But we had a great time and celebrated Christmas a lil late just me and him, exchanged gifts and ate some good food:

Akira volunteering at a local pre-school, we facilitated some games and read Christmas stories.

The snow during Christmas week.

And then we celebrated New Years in Japan. We got a good chunk of paid time off for New Year's, 5 days! It is a big deal in Japan and a holiday to spend quality time with family. This 2018 is the year of the dog. Japanese New year is called Shogatsu, and it is celebrated for 4 days-ish. There are so many symbols associated, decorations, foods and customs. One of the coolest things I learned was that back when people would order or make osechi ( a 3 day bento box full of non-perishable foods) to last them the 3^4 days of the New Year because people would close down their business to be with family. Some places still close and some people still hold this tradition. I was lucky to find plenty of open places to get groceries or eat out during the first new year days. I was excited to make my own Kagami mochi! (see below on table with soba) It is two stacked mochis and they mean a lot of different things, like one generation to the other, good luck for harvest etc. A lot of good things. They almost all have a daidai, or small citrus fruit on top and other decorations. People eat mochi and soba noodles for a long life. I made some delicious soba and we bought mochi at the store. We also visited a shrine in Hirosaki and got to ring the big bell! They ring the big bell 108 times according to buddist beliefs to get rid of the 108 wordly desires and deadly sins...or something like that.It is also a way to finish the old year and start the new. We rang the bell and made our wish for the year at the temple. It as very nice to see so many people coming out to visit the temple. 

Mt. Iwaki on New Year's day looking dapper.

soba noodles on New Year's for longevity and our Kagami mochi display for all kinds of good luck and good fortune. 

Visited Saishoin Temple in Hirosaki.

The year of the dog, 2018.

Our tickets to ring the bell. 

On January second the Yakuba (City Hall) hosted a kite flying event. Flying kites in japan on new years is a tradition that dates back to the edo period when people were prohibited from flying kites and were only allowed to fly kites on New Year's.

Far far away you can see a crane kite up in the sky.