Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimas!

I’ll just be honest, Dean and I did not stay up late enough to ring in the New Year properly on December 31st. I had worked a full day and was dead tired, and Dean told his friends he wasn’t going to let his pregnant wife stay home alone on New Year’s. He really likes using the pregnancy as an excuse to get out of things he doesn’t feel like doing—not only does he get a free pass, but people also think he is a nice guy for taking such good care of me. Now I’m not saying he doesn’t actually take good care of me, but the truth is, he was too tired to go out himself. We both threw in the towel around 11 PM, had our New Year’s kiss, and went to sleep.



In the morning we decided to partake in the Okinawan tradition of Hatsumode, where you visit a Buddhist temple or shrine on the first of the year (or shortly thereafter). We chose to go to Kin Kannonji, a rather small temple that is close to our home here. Like always, we set about with a general idea of where to go, but with no map, directions, or road names—all of which are considered silly and unnecessary in these parts. We knew we were getting close when one side of the road was closed due to cars being parked in the middle of the lane. People don’t think twice about leaving their cars half in the street here because there really are no road shoulders to speak of. So we made like the locals and pulled our little minivan into the long line of road hazards and started walking in the direction of the other people.



The street had a festival-like atmosphere with street food and carnival games for the kiddies. As we closed in on the temple, Dean got nervous that we weren’t allowed to go there since we were the only Americans in the crowd. We decided to go anyway and be respectful. For Dean’s part, he made a conscious effort not to curse while in sight of the temple. People seemed to be lining up in front of the temple, so we took a place in line and kept our eyes peeled as to what we should do when we got to the front. There was a large wooden bank and we figured out you were supposed to say a prayer and then throw coins into the bank. If you had kids, the kids got to do the throwing and the parents did the praying. Dean and I got to the front, bowed our heads (I said a quick prayer for Baby Ellis), and tossed our coins for good luck. The inside of the temple was beautiful, with lots of little gold statues and monks dressed in orange robes, who may or may not have been there so none of those pretty gold pieces went missing, who knows? You could buy a little paper fortune up front—omikuji—that is like a detailed fortune cookie scroll that tells you predictions for your next year. Some were even in badly translated English so we could read them!



We got out of the line, very pleased with ourselves for not causing an international incident and looked around some more. There were shrines of different kami—which I think are Buddhist “gods”—where people left offerings of coins, candies, and oranges. We saw a lot of people tying their omikuji to tree branches and fences. You tie it up so that good fortune will come true and bad fortune will be averted. Check out this awesome one I got:



One thing I have to say I appreciate about Japan is that it never ever seems inappropriate to take a picture! I felt free to pull out my camera and start clicking because I saw lots of other families doing it. I really enjoy this aspect of the culture.

It turned out to be a nice day and a fun learning experience. Plus I can never get too many blessings for Baby Ellis! Here’s hoping 2010 will be the best year yet.