eat and sleep for the New Year

[written in Hiroshima; 30th December 2010- 2nd January 2011]

flopping into the snow near a temple in Shimane

 As I type this blog, it’s hard not to cringe because it is so cold to touch the keys of the keyboard.

It’s apparently -5 degrees now in Hiroshima, and snowfall here is the highest in all of Japan, accumulating to a whopping 100cm in the last 30 years.

Destination: Hiroshima

my obento box for breakfast 7:15AM

 I left for Hiroshima on the 30^th of December last year(2010), and after four hours on a very comfortable ride, I arrived to a snow-less, and very cold town.

Needless to say I was disappointed it wasn’t snowing but the further we drove away from Hiroshima into the countryside, it started to snow.

on the road to Shimane

Imagine your favorite ski park.

Now take away the cable car, the actual ski equipment.

No snowboarding and definitely no people.

And you can say goodbye to snowmen, and little children dragging each other down little hills on toboggans and such.

Multiply the snow by a million times over, and add a billion trees with icicles hanging down from its leafless branches and you have the scenery in which I have been exposed to for the past four days.

my host mom(left), and host grandma (right) on NYE

 What do the Japanese people do over the New Years that is different to what we do?

Everything.

There is nothing similar at all, and having this experience was, and will be one of the most fulfilling things I have done in my exchange.

So Japanese people…sleep.

Sure, you stay up for the countdown, but what you do before that countdown is sleep, or eat.

Back home, I drank. A lot.

The whole day was a hype up to the actual countdown, and just a heck of a lot of partying with friends as opposed to spending it with your family.

Here, the New Year is crawls by really slowly, but in a good way.

In a way that you can actually decide what to do with your time, instead of watching it vanish right before your eyes the way it does in Tokyo.

I can actually say that I have had more than enough sleep these past few days on holiday than I’ve ever had since I came here last April.

“Last April”

It’s already 2011, although we were only four days away from 2010.

What a year.

I accomplished many things over this new year.

We left for Hiroshima on the 30^th, and sitting in a shinkansen for the possibly many millionth time around, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.

Two years ago, I was ungrateful.

You know you complain about where you are now in the present, but I swear when you look back you think, “man those were fun times”.

I was quite unhappy back when I was 15- no lies, but I don’t think I’d change anything.

The memories that I made with my friends two years ago here in Hiroshima came flooding back during the New Year.

I came to the same station this year. Nothing has changed.

I shopped for souvenirs at the same shops, which sell the exact same things.

I laughed at the same ridiculous signs around town, and although I was with different company, it was hard not to smile like an idiot to myself.

We stayed in Shimane Prefecture half of the trip, because my host dad’s parents live in the rural countryside.

This prefecture is known to be the smallest populated in all of Japan.

I can see why though.

There are absolutely no young people, or even middle-aged people.

The countryside’s population consists of people that are either in their 70’s or 80’s, and deserted houses are everywhere to be seen.

The house in which I stayed at for New Years was approximately two hours away from a supermarket.

There was no satellite dish for Softbank phones, so I couldn’t email, or check facebook during the New Years.

I didn’t even bother asking if they had internet there. :P

However- it was quite refreshing to remove myself away from using my phone and computer all the time.

I could really relax, and think about absolutely nothing the whole time I stayed there.

I took a load of pictures of snow, and after four days of Hiroshima, the total of 640 photos I’ve taken are each filled with a story to tell.

Plus- half of the photos I’ve taken are worthy to be set as your desktop screensaver.

checking in at the Japanese inn

 I also went to a Japanese hot spring resort a good three hour drive further away from Shimane Prefecture.

Staying at a traditional Japanese inn that specialized in everything ‘onsen’ was a great experience.

before the onsen...

 It was embarrassing at first to take off my clothes in front of my host mom, host sister, and host grandmother, but once you get in the hot steaming water, you forget.

Your muscles just give in to the steaming water, and you almost lose consciousness.

It’s THAT good.

the outdoor hot spring

 The hot spring that I went to had an indoor and outdoor spa and because we arrived to the resort early, we were the only ones there.

Let’s just say that I stayed in the hot spring way too long for comfort, and my head started to throb like crazy. 

on the massage chair <3

My heart rate accelerated from trying to cool my body down, and after 40 minutes of slowly transforming into a human prune, my host sister and I decided to finally step out of the hot spring and get massages.

after all that relaxation...

and drier hair. :P

I think the main difference with a traditional Japanese inn, and a western hotel, is that it truly focuses in relaxation.

Sure, you get your spa resorts in Rotorua, and Queenstown, but nothing compares to comfort than sipping hot green tea while watching the snow fall outside, upon a hugiant massage chair. 

crab on daikon(radish)

crab nabe(hot pot)

salted crab

 The New Year in Japan also means crab.

Lots, and lots of crab.

Expensive, and huge crabs.

My host mom went a bit crazy and ordered a massive meal course for the family, and we each got a 11000yen crab each.

Each. This being just the crab alone.

I didn’t really want to think about how much the actual meal cost, because it would most likely be 5 times that price.

I also got to eat my year’s share of cawan mushi this trip in Hiroshima.

Since young I’ve loved this Japanese dish, and I’ve had eel cawan mushi, salmon roe cawan mushi, crab cawan mushi, to name a few.

That, and the anko (red bean)

Japanese people go beserk with anko around the New Year.

Or should I say, they go nuts for mochi.

Mochi in absolutely everything. Your soup, as a dessert, on a stick, in a box, with your rice, served hot, cold, frozen.

What is mochi? I looked it up in the dictionary the other day and it came out with this:

hot toasted mochi all melted with anko <3 omg, jizz. :P

 Mochi is a rice-like gooey ball of awesome that you’d be an idiot not to like. :P

I also met with all the relatives that were surprised that I can speak English because I’m Asian.

They were even more shocked to hear that I live in New Zealand.

It was funny because I swear I overheard a conversation that they were having while I was in the kitchen that they initially thought I was adopted, as opposed to an exchange student.

Sigh. :P

My New Year’s was all in all, a great experience.

Hiroshima, Shimane Prefecture, Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Castle. 

All in four nights and five days.

Clearly a great way to end, and a perfect way to start.

Do check out my photos of my New Year in facebook!

"Hello 2011", and "My Wish For The New Year" are the albums in which the photos are in. :]]

Three more weeks, and I’m back.

Back at ‘home’, I think.

I don’t want to go home; I’m so in love with this country and its people that I don’t think I want to ever forget this place and what it’s done for me.

Leaving this place; I’m scared I’ll leave my memories behind too.

I have photos, and videos but nothing compares to just being in the presence of the people you care for.

All my love always,

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

April