New Years Eve

After debating just how to see in the New Year, Carol, Dawn and I decided to go out on the town and then head up to the castle for the midnight countdown.

We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner, did New Year purikura, sang at karaoke and then went up to the castle. The last time I went to the castle for the countdown, everyone assembled in the park. Tonight there was no one in the park but there were groups of people assembled in and around the shrine.

Believing the celebrations had been moved this year, we wasted the last ten minutes of 2008 taking pictures and wondering when it would all start.

11:57……………11:58…………11:59………..

It seemed there would be no countdown this year and so when Carol’s phone clicked to midnight, we shouted “Happy New Year” and sang Auld Lang Syne. The Japanese people around us were obviously in a different time zone as they started to celebrate about a minute later.

It was all a bit of an anti-climax but we laughed it off and headed to the shrine to say our New Year prayers. It was getting pretty cold by now and I was thankful a few hundred people had gathered to get in line. It helped keep us warm but my feet and hands were already cold.

By 2am we had said our prayers, bought our trinkets and fortunes and wandered home in the cold. We had planned to wake up early and see the first sunrise of the year. When we get home, however, none of us could sleep because we were so cold. It took another hour and a long, hot shower before the shivers stopped.

When the alarm went off to wake us in time for the sunset, we were all too cold and sleepy and the weather was not inviting. I rolled over and went back to sleep!