New Years!

Gatchapin (a little scary, yes?)
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Me breathing in purifying insense at kiyomizudera
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Roxy arriving in Japan

Hello again! Just a quick update on my new years fun. As many of you know, New Years is a big deal over here! Unlike in the US, where we basically just have fun on new years eve, in Japan it is a 3 day celebration! Anyways, this year it is the year of the rat, which is a big deal because it is the first animal in the Chinese Zodiac. (followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, ect.)

For me, new years was the day I got back from good old Kyoto. When I returned I basically just crashed in my bed and slept for 6 hours (in the middle of the day). When I woke up, host mom asked if I wanted to go out with her and some of her elementary and middle school friends (they keep in touch with a facebook-like application called mixi). I said yes, because I needed to get a taste of a real Japanse New Years celebration. Host Dad had work so he could not go, so he stayed behind with Tsuki-chan.

At about 11:30pm New Years eve, we went to meet her friends at a nearby shrine. I arrived on a scene that involved free liquor (special new years sake), a huge bonfire that people burned various things in, and a HUGE line of people waiting for midnight so they could ring the shrine's bell and make a new years wish. My host Mom's friends seemed very nice, and, like most people, were very interested in Alaska. I understood for the most part, but because they were all such good friends they all spoke super casually, which made it hard for me to follow along. In addition, as my name is kind of hard for I lot of Japanese people to say, I became "Ma-chan" courtsey of a very drunk guy dressed as Gatchpin (who is a monster and a mascot of one of the tv channels here).

We then got "Omikuji," or little paper fortunes. I got "dai-kichi" which is the best kind of luck you can get. Although, while it is good, some think the step below dai-kichi (just kichi) is better, because I only have room to go down in fortune, whereas someone with kichi has room to go up.

After it turned midnight, we the took a taxi to a temple. The temple was in a huge park and very spacious. We got a midnight snack at a soba place which was delicious, and one of Mama's friends showed me pictures of her cats (which you could tell absolutely adored!) after we ate, we went and prayed at the shrine (by getting into another really big line!) We then shopped around the area a bit, as many delicous new years food stands were set up. As it edged toward 4:00am, we all decided to head back, as it was becoming kind of cold. To warm up a bit, we started to run a bit, and the really drunk gatchpin ran after us. It was kinda of scary having a drunk monter-esque thing running at you in the dark! But it was pretty funny all the same.

Host Mom and I got home around 4:30, and I immeadiately passed out.

The next day I was going to go shopping with Roxy and Asuka, but much to my dismay, my debit card did not work! This scared me a bit, since Kyoto had literally drained me of money and I was broke. After some frantic emailing to my family, we got it all sorted out 2 days later. This resulted in me having to stay in the house all day yesterday! I don't think I have had that much time to relax in quite awhile. I should have been doing my homework....but I did not. :P

Today (the 4th) was my friends birthday, so we all headed to Ebisu to go to the "Beer Garden," which is basically a museum and factory devoted to the making of Yebisu beer. The museum portion was pretty cool, they had old comercials and ads, along with a kinda of creepy 3 D virtual puppet show thing....no comment.

At the end of the museum, there is beer tasting. I don't like beer, but the beer snacks were delicious! It was all apparently pretty cheep as well, and you could get large samplers of the different types of beers they make.

Well, thats about it! Tomorrow I am heading to Disneyland with a very excited Roxy (who is my friend from AK who is visiting, for those of you who do not know). The pictures above are some more Kyoto pictures, as I have not taken any pictures since!

Also, this is the link to my brother's blog who is now in Australia :http://ramugtravels.blogspot.com/

His blog, while made under the same program, is much better than mine, and he is also a better writer. So you should check it out and stay upadated on the travels of the Ramuglia family!