What are you doing New Year's Eve???

I had to share this video with you because I LOVE this song and I LOVE Zooey Deschanel!!!!!! I thought it might be nice for your listening pleasure as you read this blog entry!!!

New Years is a BIG deal here... a REALLY BIG deal!!!!!! Japan definitely wins the award for world's most holidays in a year ranging from "Culture Day," "Respect for the Aged Day," and "Health and Sports Day" among many others!!! New Years takes the cake though as it is the most important to the Japanese! There are many customs, traditions, and foods that are eaten during this special time of year here in Japan. The Japanese consider December 31 a very important day, and it is not unusual for people to stay up all night. Old customs related to the last day of the year continue in many regions of Japan, but one of the most popular is eating soba buckwheat noodles. People eat soba on December 31, either for dinner or as an evening snack, to wish for a life that’s as long as the long, skinny noodles they’re eating. Eating soba past midnight, however, is to be avoided as this is believed to bring bad luck. Good to know!!!!!

At midnight you can hear the bells from the Buddhist temples ringing 108 times... if you remember me discussing this in my blog from my Mt. Fuji trip... if not, the 108 represent the number of earthly temptations we must overcome to all reach nirvana! The bells are rung as the old year fades out and the new year enters. In Japan, sunrise on New Year’s Day is believed to have special supernatural powers, and praying to the first sunrise of the year has become a popular practice and crowds gather on mountaintops or beaches with good views of the sunrise to pray for health and family wellbeing in the new year. It is very common for people to go to the shrines and temples on New Year's Day. Many get dressed in kimono and go with their entire families. Some of the bigger shrines like the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo will get hundreds of thousands of visitors on New Years!!!

A few days after Christmas, the entrances to many Japanese homes and stores are decorated with a pine and bamboo "kadomatsu." This decoration is prepared to welcome the Shinto gods and comes from the belief that the god spirits reside in trees. The display of pine, which stays green even in winter, and bamboo, which grows quickly and is super straight, represents the desire to obtain virtue and strength to overcome adversity. I love the symbolism in everything here!!!Entrances to some of the homes are also decorated with a "shimenawa" braided straw rope. Like the kadomatsu, it signifies that the home has been purified in order to welcome the gods. After going to the temples, families head home and eat a traditional meal of foods they consider "lucky." These foods are though to bring happiness to their family. This New Year's celebration can last nearly a week and many businesses/stores are closed and most people have a few days off! Another big thing that happens on January 2nd here is the Imperial Palace in Tokyo opens up the grounds to the public... tempting as it is to go, the thought of the crowd makes me cringe. On this day the Emperor and Empress and the Royal family make an appearance which is a HUGE deal and obviously draws quite a crowd. They come out of the palace and receive the New Year greeting from the people. Maybe next year I'll be brave enough to go check it out...

Tentative NYE plans: Tokyo bound!!!! Stay tuned for the next chapter: NYE Tokyo: Unleashed! hahaha

Japanese Phrase of the Day:
akemashite o-medetō-gozaimasu (ah-kay-mosh-tay o-med-etto go-zai-moss): Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Low Key Kind of Christmas

Damian had the flu the week before Christmas and over the holiday weekend so it was pretty easy to make plans... stay home and hang out on the couch! He was feeling a little better on Christmas night so we did go to a friend's place for dinner which was really nice! He is slowly getting better but it takes time, yesterday we went for a walk to get some fresh air and that wiped him out but he did go to work this AM. We were able to skype and call a lot of our family and friends all over the U.S. at some point during the weekend which was really nice and brought a little bit of home here to Japan. We also had lots of little goodies to open under the tree which made it feel like Christmas morning!

Tonight is the last night of Chanukah... can't believe this year is almost over!!! New Year's Eve is still up in the air... we are waiting to see how Damian is feeling and if I get sick after spending an entire week around him while he has been sick. Hopefully my awesome immune system will kick this flu's butt and I stay healthy so I can go out and ring in the New Year!!!

This upcoming year should be interesting.. I'm hoping for a job (as a substitute teacher or at the hospital) or to at least start volunteering to keep myself busy! Hopefully Damian and I will be able to do some more traveling both here in Japan and around Asia so we can cross some more places and things off our list! He'll be busy on the ship and going to some training courses in the U.S. and then we will be looking at another deployment (and hopefully me heading home for a few months)...

For those of you who I told about the Japanese government offering 10,000 free flights to come visit... the government did NOT approve the budget for the flights so start saving that $$$$ if you want to come visit! We were really hoping for this to work out to get a few of our friends over here to visit as most of you know the ticket prices are absolutely astronomical! It's a total bummer that it costs so much to get here because while we are here it is such an awesome chance for people to come visit and we can show them around and they can stay with us for FREE! Here's hoping for ticket prices to go down in 2012!!!

Japanese Phrase of the Day:
Kekko dess, arigato (kay-ko dess ari-got-to): No, thank you

Happy Chanukkah!

It's that time of year again... Damian and I have lit the menorah each night, but unfortunately we have both been sick so I haven't quite had the energy for making latkes (potato pancakes) and applesauce yet this year... maybe tonight although we are attending a Chanukkah party at the Chapel of Hope on base tomorrow night and there will be latkes there so I don't know if Damian can handle 2 nights of latkes in a row... I sure can... they're my FAVORITE!!! I bought Chanukkah flowers the other day... they are just random flowers that have been dyed bright blue, but they look nice next to our menorah! We also have a cute little poinsettia right next to our fake tree although the pine scented candle makes it seem a little more real.

Not much going on here this week... pretty quiet actually. Damian has been back to work this week although he was home sick yesterday... I can't believe Christmas is just a few days away... it really came out of nowhere this year! I am missing being home for the holidays but thank goodness for skype that helps us stay connected! It is crazy to look back at our year and think of EVERYTHING we have done in just a years time... Last year at Christmas we weren't even engaged yet... that was the day AFTER Christmas when we were exploring San Francisco and since then we have had a crazy little year... We got married in March in Hawaii... finished up our last semester of Grad school and graduated with our Masters' in May, had 2 wedding receptions in June, one on the East coast and one on the West, Damian left for Japan/deployment in June and I spent the summer hanging in NE studying for my boards, then I moved to Japan in August and then Damian got deployed again, we traveled in Singapore and Hog Kong together and Damian got to see Thailand and South Korea, then homecoming in November and our first Thanksgiving/Chanukkah/Christmas as a married couple and in Japan!!!!! Phew.... that's exhausting just thinking about this past year!

Thanks to my Dad and Sue for the personalized holiday M&M's!!! Love it! Happy holidays to everyone, Happy Chanukkah, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year to all our friends and family all over the world!

Japanese Phrase of the Day:
Nihongo hanasemasen (nee-hon-go hah-nah-say-mah-sen): I can't speak Japanese

Monkeying Around

Yesterday, Damian and I went on a bus tour from the base to Nagano prefecture (state) which is about 4-5 hours away. Nagano, Japan should sound familiar to you as it is the home of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games! (* fun fact alert: Nagano has been the southernmost host of the Winter Olympic Games!) It is absolutely beautiful and a very popular area for skiing/snowboarding! Nagano is located in the Japanese Alps and is in the middle area of the main island of Japan. Our first stop on this tour was Matsumoto Castle as seen in the picture. One thing that you notice right away when looking at this castle was that it is made of wood as opposed to other castles in the world that are mainly made of stone. The castle originates back to 1504 and is designated as a national treasure of Japan and one of the most beautiful castles of Japan. This castle is also known as "crow castle" because of it's black exterior! Matsumoto castle has all the elements of a good and strong castle... a mote, a bridge, and many gates. Inside the castle there were holes in the walls that were different sizes... these are called tazama or teppozama and were used for firing arrows or muskets when under attack! There were also hidden areas where they could drop rocks on anyone trying to scale the castle walls. It was all set up very cleverly! The castle was absolutely freezing... even Damian was pretty cold! Back in the day when the castle was being used, they didn't have an fires inside because it is made of wood so they just had to put layers on. With all of the windows and weapon windows the castle is very open and the cold air comes right inside... I certainly wouldn't have survived during this period!!! We had to take our shoes off when getting there and then we carried them around with us while wearing these slippers that were way too wide and big for any female feet and way too small for any male feet! I felt like I was shuffling throughout the castle in my grandpa's stretched out slippers! The slippers made the stairways a little difficult to navigate. The stairs for each floor were located in a different area on each floor and all strategically placed. The stairways were at 50-60 degree angles (more like a ladder than a staircase)! Considering this castle is 500 years old it is in remarkable shape and has been preserved very well.

Next we stopped for a quick lunch at a rest stop. Nagano prefecture is famous for its apples so of course we bought a BIG bag of delicious apples and some apple kit kats (yes I said apple) and some other yummy apple snacks too! *Sidenote: Japan has super crazy kit kat flavors... green tea, wasabi, blueberry cheesecake, banana, cookies and cream, strawberry cheesecake, apple, chile pepper, etc... After lunch we bundled up even more as we kept heading more north into the mountains. Next stop was into the Jigoku-dani valley to go to the Snow Monkey Park! At this point we were about a 3000 foot elevation to give you an idea and the day before we went they had just received about 6 inches of fresh snow! Once we arrived at the parking lot in the bus we had about a 40 minute hike ahead of us... they had warned us the trail may be snow covered or muddy but I wasn't really expecting it to be icy! The first part was the worst because it was sort of steep and ice covered... I had a nice little fall right onto my wrists (ouch) but at least I got it out of the way early on... after that is wasn't too bad and more just slush and snow! It was actually a really nice hike, a few steep parts, but our group got pretty spread out and for awhile there was no one else around and it was very peaceful! Snow covers the ground in this part of Japan about 1/3 out of every year. Once we got closer to the actual "snow monkey park" there were monkeys all over the place!

The real name of the snow monkeys are Japanese Macaques! They are native to Japan and are distinguished by their grey fur and red faces. You may have seen them on a special done by National Geographic last year! In this particular snow monkey park there are about 200 monkeys! These monkeys are omnivores and eat insects, plants, soil... and when there are no plants to be found they will dig under the snow to get to the roots of plants. These are very intelligent animals! They have a slightly higher body temperature than us at around 102 degrees Fahrenheit... kind of like having a fever all the time.. although it was pretty cold there so it probably feels nice! The monkeys faces get redder as they are warmer so as you can see the monkeys in the hot springs have redder faces than the ones climbing around outside. They were all just hanging out in the hot springs, grooming each other and staring at us. They can be aggressive creatures and you are warned not to look into their eyes... I kept my sunglasses on just to be on the safe side... then I could totally stare at them! It was surprising how close we could get to them without even spooking them at all. At one point Damian and I were standing next to each other... like maybe a foot away from each other and a pretty big monkey walked right in between us like we weren't even there! There were also a lot of baby monkeys climbing around and hitching rides on their mother's back! It was definitely worth the long bus ride and getting up before dawn to head up to Nagano. We had a great day together on this adventure!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Saru (saw-roo): Monkey

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like... Chrismukkah...

EVERYWHERE you go.... Damian and I took a trip up to Yokohama last night to check out the lights and to see a Christmas tree I found online that does a light show. We were very surprised to see how much they decorate here for the holidays considering only a small percentage of Japanese actually celebrate Christmas. Most Japanese are either Shinto or Buddhists however they have really taken to the way we celebrate Christmas in the western world... Lights, trees, and even signs that say "Merry Christmas." I was really impressed with how beautiful and intricate many of the decorations were at the malls we went to!
*unfortunately this is not our video because we couldn't get it to load but this is exactly what we saw...
The Christmas tree we went to see in Yokohama was at Queens Square, which is just a big mall! This year the tree was dedicated to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami from March of this year. The star at the top represents courage and hope, and all the other little lights represent the prayers of people. Each hour during the evening they do a light show with all the lights and music together. I thought it was pretty awesome... I even tried to convince Damian to stay for another hour so we could watch it again, but he said we could watch this video we took if I really wanted to see it again! hahaha

We walked around for awhile and had dinner at a restaurant at the mall which was really good! We took the train back, and it seemed to be full of drunk businessmen on their way home... kind of funny, but the train was packed and hot so the smell of booze was a little too much! Today we got up early and FINALLY mailed almost all of our holiday packages... the cost of shipping all of these was sort of ridiculous, but that's how it is when you live overseas! We went to the gym and have just been having a leisurely afternoon since then. I'm enjoying Damian being on leave and being home with me all day. This weekend we are going up to Nagano to see the snow monkeys which we are super excited about!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Koneko (co-nee-co): Kitten (*Cat is just 'neko')

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Happy/Merry Chrismukkah... I'm finally getting into the holiday spirit as the holidays get a little bit closer... I was feeling like a grinch because everyone else was already so into it, but I realized it's just not normal to be that spirited so close to Thanksgiving... I like to wait until it is actually the holiday season! As you can see to the left, Damian and I put up a mini-Chrismukkah tree in our apartment. All of our holiday decorations are safely tucked away in our Navy storage in San Diego so we had to start from scratch for this year... For less than $80 at the exchange we were able to get a tree, ornaments, lights, and stockings! Our ornament for this year is a Santa Claus with an American flag that is saluting and it says U.S. Navy... very appropriate for this year. We also picked up an "Aloha" ornament to represent our Hawaiian wedding/elopement! Our tree is fake, which is great because we can use it again next year and we have been burning pine scented candles and when you walk in, it almost smells like we have a real holiday tree!!! The only thing missing is a fireplace... the other day I found one of those fireplace videos on youtube (with real crackling sounds and all) and when Damian walked in I had it all cued up next to the tree so that it looked like we had a small fire going... pretty funny!!!

Not much new here in the far east... Damian is on leave this week which is probably why I haven't blogged in a week... I've been soaking up every last minute with him even if we are just sitting on the couch watching movies! We finally just finished addressing all of our holiday cards and finishing up last minute gifts for packages... unfortunately because we live in Japan... everyone will most likely be getting these after Christmas because the post office here is completely out of control right now... lines out the door, no parking, pushy grumpy people... pretty much the same as at home except here half of the people are in uniform and the other half are pushing baby carriages! I was lucky enough to skype with my BEST and oldest tomodachi's in NYC the other day... funny but we all just happened to have reindeer ears on! hahaha This holiday season will be tough without friends/family but hopefully we will keep busy. I'm not sure what we are doing yet for Chistmas or New Years, but we are going to a Chanukkah party at the temple next week which should be fun! Later this week we are going to head up to Yokohama or Tokyo to see some holiday lights/decorations!

The other day Damian and I went out in town on a serious search for Sparkling Apple Chu-hi's... our new favorite... they are seasonal and they are so oishii! If you have ever had Martinelli's apple cider you understand what these chu-hi's taste like... amazing! You don't even taste any alcohol in them which I suppose could be very dangerous! We bought 2 cases! We also bought some more sake... the cloudy/milky looking one (thanks Amber for the suggestion)... the one we bought is kept chilled and is a peach flavor... we are actually sharing some right now! It is very good, but again very dangerous because it tastes like peach juice... like a more subtle peach schnapps! This is a picture of our dinner tonight... we're having... (surprise surprise)... Japanese food!!!! We bought some inari (sweet tofu wrapped around rice) at the store the other day, and I made miso soup with tofu and put udon noodles in it and then of course some white rice on the side... AND chu-hi's!

This is a video my friend posted on Facebook the other day and I think everyone should watch it... it is absolutely amazing and Damian and I really enjoyed watching it!!! Awesome tribute to the armed forces!!!!!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Douitashimashite (doe-ee-ta-she-mosh-tay): Your Welcome (this is a tough one... I'm sure a smile would go a long way too)

Today Was a Great Day

I had an absolutely fantastic day today! One of my friends invited me on a hike around Kamakura, Japan, that is guided by Japanese volunteers and done every other month! I had NO idea what to expect but didn't have much else on my planner for today so I agreed to go. Yesterday was a really nasty, cold, rainy day but today the sun was shining and it was a little brisk but all in all a pretty perfect day for December 7th! It was so wonderful to be out in the fresh air all day and soak in all that nature! Kamakura is just a short train ride away from the base with a few transfers and a short walk. We met the whole group (about 12 of us + the guides) around 1000 this AM and then started on our way. The foliage around us was all so beautiful and I don't think the pictures even do it justice! I kept seeing really pretty red trees and then realized it looked just like the Japanese Maple I had in my front yard when I was growing up. I commented to one of the other women on the tour that I thought it was a Japanese Maple and she told me that here they call it just a Maple tree.... (pause for laughter).... I guess I didn't think of that.... HAHAHAHA I'm still laughing about it 8 hours later sitting on the couch blogging while Damian plays video games. I told him about it when I got home and he thought it was pretty funny too!

The first temple we stopped at on our hike was the Tokei-ji Temple and is also known as the "divorce temple." This temple was very interesting and was also founded by a woman. During the time it was founded, women were not allowed to cut marital ties without a letter of divorce from their husbands. This temple was used as an asylum for women to escape to while divorcing their husbands as asking for a divorce could lead to physical abuse and an unpleasant living situation. Eventually when it no longer became necessary for the women to get a letter from their husband for a divorce this temple became a Zen temple as it is today. It is very beautiful and is surrounded by plum blossoms and other blooming trees and flowers. This picture was just an example of one of the funny names of the cars here that I happened upon on our hike today... this was a Honda and obviously ready for success!

We hiked for awhile through beautiful (but muddy because of the rain yesterday) trails all through the forest and came out near Kuzuharagaoka Park. At this park was an area with a big rock, a stack full of clay dishes, and all around the rock were broken dishes... I had never seen anything like this and was obviously intrigued (it really doesn't take much)! It was a "Masaruishi" which if you break it down: ma: negative factors in life, saru: leave/depart, and ishi: rock... so throwing the dish at the rock symbolizes the overcoming of obstacles in your life. Negativity in life disrupts the flow of life energy so by throwing the dish against the rock you are breaking the negativity and allowing the positive energy to flow... and all for only 100 Yen (about $1.30). It was shockingly fun to break a dish against a rock... don't worry Damian I won't be throwing dishes at home when my life energy is disturbed.

You could see Mt Fuji (barely) from the park on our hike today... of course there was a sign that said "Mt Fuji viewing point" or else we would have missed it (and so would you if I didn't add the arrow)! You can see Mt Fuji from the base on a clear day, but not from our apartment so sometimes I forget to look for it when I am out and about. When my Mom lived in Seattle she used to tell me "the mountain is out today" and she of course was talking about Mt Rainier, but I am going to steal it and tell you that not only was the sun out today but so was "the" mountain! The hike was a lot of up and down and even though there was a trail it wasn't completely cleared and you really had to watch your step because of all the tree roots and of course the slippery mud and wet leaves.

Next stop on this awesome hike was the Zeniarai Benzaiten Shrine (don't worry I can't say it either)... also known as the "money washing shrine." Legend has it that than person who constructed the shrine received a message in his dreams saying "use the water here to offer prayers to god, and all the world will be at peace." Later it is said that he washed money with this spring water and prayed for the prosperity of his family. Word got out that if you wash your money here your money might be doubled, and since the year 1257 people have been coming here hoping to get rich. So, now you go to this shrine and wash your money and then you are supposed to get financial success... I emptied my whole darn wallet into the basket (not the paper money though)!!!!! Anyway, this was one of the coolest shrines I have been to and cannot wait to take Damian to see it. It is literally in a cave!!! How cool is that?!?! You walk through a cave tunnel to get into this beautiful serene shrine and then in the back is where you do the money washing and it is in a cave.... prettiest cave I have ever seen. So, basically I put my money into the basket and then used one of the ladles to wash the money by pouring the water over the money... at the end all I had was really cold and wet money, but then I went and spent some of it because I was hoping that would help me get rich (I bought cool candies). ***Fun fact alert: "zeni" means "coin" and "arai" means "washing" which is where the name "Zeniarai" came from for this shrine.

On a completely other note, my wonderful husband Damian is now a licensed driver here in Japan, and I can't wait for him to take me for a ride, or be my DD, or be my personal chauffeur... hehehe! AND just in case all of you were all wondering he put his windshield wipers on during his driving test instead of his blinker too.... so it's not just me! Now that I have been driving here on the other side of the road for a few months, it will be really weird to come home and drive... watch out world I drive on BOTH sides of the road... yikes!!!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Dai (die): Big

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Have I mentioned how nice it has been to have Damian home??? I think I may have mentioned it a time or two, but it really really is. I take joy in the little things we do together and really am appreciating all the time we are able to spend together! Last week we made a quick walking trip out in town and got some fresh fruits/veggies and also stopped at the 7-11 right outside of the gate to get some chu-hi's... I know I swore I would never again drink one but this flavor interested me greatly! It was a sparkling chardonnay chu-hi!!!!! AND it was so delicious! Damian and I sat out on our patio (it wasn't too cold) and had our chu-hi's and dinner and enjoyed a nice quiet night! This past weekend was nice, we went to a birthday party on Saturday at our friends place and it was a good time... I brought a quinoa salad and some sushi I made as I feel that I have mastered it enough to actually share with the world now! It was a hit!

Yesterday, Damian and I had a little outing in town and did some grocery shopping and some home and holiday shopping as well. He doesn't have his license yet, but passed the written exam and will take the driving test this week.... yeah!!!!I can't wait and then he can drive me around... although I will probably still be driving him to work everyday so I can have the car... Anyway, we didn't go too far, just out in town, but it was only my second time driving off base... mostly because I am terrified to drive out there by myself because I need a navigator and someone there for moral support! We stopped at lots of different stores and had a good time exploring together. We had fun just wandering around the stores and checking out what they had... Damian spent awhile in the rice cooker section admiring the fine craftsmanship of these technologically advanced rice cookers! We decided that our rice cooker is still making pretty good rice so we will wait to get a fancy one for now!

As Damian was admiring the rice cookers, I found myself standing in an aisle full of sake... shocker?!?! It was amazing.. these bottle were so HUGE!!! We have been here for a few months and haven't once had sake... seriously! We decided we would buy a bottle and try it out... we had NO idea where to begin... we sort of decided on a bottle for price and because we liked the label... I have no idea how else to buy sake when the labels are all in Japanese and we have no idea what any of them say... I guess we will just have to use trial and error while picking out sake!

One purchase we made on our outing yesterday was a noren... A noren is a traditonal Japanese fabric divider used as room dividers, hung in doorways, on walls, or in windows. They have vertical slits in them so you can walk through and have multiple purposes. They come in many different sizes and colors/patterns. Often restaurants and shops hang them in their doorways to protect from sun, wind, dust into their establishments. They put them out to show they are open and at the end of the day take them down. Many Japanese have them in their homes and use them to divide rooms or in doorways to help to hold the heat or cool in the room. Some of them are thick and have beautiful traditional Japanese designs on them We opted for a simple design in a neutral color and we put it on our side door of our kitchen.... I love it! It is perfect there and it's kind of fun to pop out of the curtain sometimes... although this novelty may fade in time...

Japanese Word of the Day:
Mise (me-say): Store