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Hello New Year
I appreciate lots of people who support me.
Thank to everyone who support me, I could get this new year 2009.
We traditionally wear kimono and we have a little family serious new year party in the morning on January 1st.
However we decided not to wear kimonos.
It is kinda sad, but it was also hassle to wear them only for a couple of hours.
We had our morning ceremony with our grandma’s maid who is 96 years old.
He hardly hear us now…
After that we went to see our grandma who is in a nursing home.
She can’t understand anything, but at least she opened her eyes and saw us.
After the visit, we went to shrine as every year, and also went to our office to pray.
Then, we drove down to Kyoto to celebrate with my other grandma.
She could come to Osaka to celebrate with us but she cared about out dead grandpa and wanted us to come to Kyoto.
Now she is thinking to move to Osaka and live close to us.
She seems like she was pretty excited about it,
We just kept eating and eating.
I love Osechi, Japanese New Year’s traditional dishes.
Guess how many items we had at the dinner table?
60, sixty!!!
This is the day I feel lucky myself to be born as Japanese.
Woff, I ate too much…
First Experience
I did Omiai for the first time in my life tonight after work.
He was president of a BIG company in Japan.
Omiai is one of Japanese traditional brind date, sort of...
It is basically for marriage, but not all the time.
I felt really weird me sitting in front of unknown 46-years-old guy.
It was interesting experience.
He took me out to a steak house, and this is an apple pie I ate there.
I don't think I would do omiai anymore.
Leftovers Taste Really Good!
I have eaten all day today.
There are so many leftovers from yesterday.
Osehchi (Japanese festive food for the New Year) is good for a couple days.
Japanese people tried to save energy for new years so we cooked everything at the end of December and keep eating the same thing from 1/1-1/3.
These are my grandma’s Osechi which taste a little different from my mom’s.
Both are really good though.
We got up early enough and we went to grave to say hi to our grandpa after breakfast.
It was so cold today in Kyoto.
After we got back from grave, we had Osechi again for lunch.
After we had lunch, my sis and I went shopping.
We wanted to get some stuff for our apt, but I had too many things at my apt already, so I did not get any furniture, but small stuff only.
We get bored easily when we are at our grandma’s so we keep eating, taking a nap, or going out for shopping.
Otherwise, my grandma keeps talking, which is good for her.
This is special soup for New Years, kinda miso soup.
Special soup for New Years is different depending on the region.
Osaka’s are clear soup and the picture above is Kyoto’s, which is white miso soup.
This is sooooooo delicious!
I always wish that I were American on Thanksgiving day, but I always think that I am lucky that I was born as Japanese!
We had Osechi again for dinner and came back to Osaka by car.
We are soooo full.
I promise that I will go on a diet from tomorrow with eating chocolates right now...
New Year!!
I can’t say “Happy” this year, so “A New Year!!”
This is Japanese culture, but when one of your relative passed away, you don’t suppose to celebrate anything for one year.
So we can’t say “A Happy New Year”, we can’t wear Kimono, we can’t go to shrines or we can’t eat traditional Japanese New Year dishes.
My mom’s dad passed away last February, so we had to follow the culture.
We did not do say “Happy” or we did not wear Kimono, but we had to go to shrines for our company.
Going to shrines is our custom to wish a good luck for our company with my dad.
My mom stayed home at least this year, but I could not understand why it is bad to appreciate god and ask him a good luck again, so I went.
This is “Osechi”, Japanese traditional New Year dishes.
Well this is my mom’s handmade, so they are pretty arranged.
They are really delicious dishes which we only can eat on New Year’s day.
I was disappointed that I would not be able to eat this year, but my mom made a little bit.
It is such a hard work to prepare these dishes but I love this Japanese culture.
I am not good at cooking, but I want to learn how to prepare these dishes and want to pass this my family traditional recipes.
We had mom’s “Osechi” this morning with our maid, who is 95 years old.
She is still fine, but she is so skinny and looks like she just got a bone.
I felt pity for her that she lives by herself, but she kept saying that she is happy with that.
My dad and mom cried a lot this morning because of her.
They felt sorry for her and they thought they would not be able to spend new year’s day with her anymore.
I think they were just too sensitive.
After that, we went to a hospital where my grandma is to greet her.
And we left for Kyoto to visit my other grandma and ate mo grandma’s handmade Osechi, which is a little different from my mom’s.
We played cards afterwards, and I lost $20…
We are now staying at my grandma’s all together and will spend one night.
He Will Always With Me
Last Thursday was the day our family laid my grandpa’s ashes to rest.
Because of Japanese culture, or religion ( I even don’t know if this is different from other countries…) we kept my grandpa’s ashes at my grandma’s house for 49 days since he died.
We believe that my grandpa’s sprit is still there for 49 days after his death.
After 49 days, which was last Thursday, we went to his temple and laid his ashes in his grave.
We prayed in front of this beautiful thing.
Since I am not religious at all, I don’t know much about it.
I just know my grandpa’s and my religion are different, which I realized on the day he died.
He had a great friendship with his bonze, so we could have a great warm funeral for my grandpa.
I really think my grandpa was very lucky person to have good bonze.
I still can’t believe that my grandpa passed away.
My dad told me that he will be with me all the time from now on since he went up to heaven on the day we laid his ashes to rest.
Since I don’t know much about any religion, but I love to believe whoever say something sounds right to me, or help me.
Believing my grandpa went to heaven and will watch me from above helps me a lot!
