festivities
Can it be? Am I actually... having fun?

WHY, YES!!!!

Today I managed another few reservations in Hokkaido, completing that portion of the trip except for train package. It really is awfully simple to make hotel reservations... even in Japanese.

With that stress rapidly dissipating and with some financial stress alleviated, I feel almost normal for a change. I want to go back to the Kokusaibu to see friends but I'm afraid that I'll get totally drained again.

I think, however, if I can get all my travel plans done quickly, I'll have so much to look forward to that I won't be bothered by much of anything.

I have to say, too, that I really like the Japanese tradition of gifting money on New Years. My host sister randomly gave me 2000 yen today and while I worry that I should be in some way reciprocating, I'm glad that the tradition is paper rather than some sort of funky trinket I wouldn't know how to use.

I've had a very Japanese New Years. Today I went to the Imperial Palace and watched the Emperor's Family give greetings to the public. This is one of two days in the year during which the palace is open. Honestly, it was less impressive than I expected and, in a way, sort of sad. Everyone crowded in, waited for the royals to line up in a glass enclosure and waved Japanese flags while the Imperial family waved back. On the way out, after listening to the Emperor's very brief greeting, I overheard an obaasan (grandma) sadly recalling how much more enthusiasticly the crowds shouted "BANZAI!" when she was young.

Afterwards, I walked along the palace moat on the way to meet a friend at Yasukuni shrine. It was so warm today (nearly 60 degrees) that I was sweltering in my wool sweater and ate a green-tea/vanilla swirl soft-cream (soft serve) to cool me down.

Yasukuni shrine wasn't the sad and controversial place I expected it to be. In the aftermath of New Years it was packed to the gills and the streets were lined with vendor and food booths. It looked more like a festival than a place of reflection.

Yasukuni was, quite possibly, the 5th or 6th shrine I've visited since New Yeara's. Yesterday I walked through the neighborhood with my family members and visited all the shrines in the area. I've taken some great photographs in the last few days-- of Yokohama, Nakano, the Imperial palace, Yasukuni and our Yamanote-circle walk. I'll try to post some when I get another working copy of Photoshop running.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to Hama-rikyu Koen, the site of another Imperial home, to watch a demonstration of tradional hawk hunting and the Japanese lion dance.

Monday night, three friends and I are going to Mitake mountain to hike and stay in a Japanese inn. Yum.

AAAAnyway, this entry is boring as hell because there's nothing I can really say about where I've been lately without the photos. A picture is certainly worth a thousand words.