Family and New Years Day

In Japan, New Years Day is a family holiday. It can be compared to the way we spend time with our families on Christmas day. Today, we went to a couple of the temples in Tokyo. They were crowded I read somewhere that the temples see over 3 million people during the first 3 days of the year.

This holiday season has been hard for me. I knew that it would be, but this is the first time I began to noticeably feel homesick.

I miss my family.
I miss Tyler.
I miss our cats.
I miss, I miss, I miss...

I am very lucky in that I have always spent the holidays at home, with my family. I actually feel a little guilty that I have had it so easy compared to some of my friends. I have always lived within a 10 minute drive to nearly everyone that is close to me (family and friends). This is part of the reason I wanted to move away for awhile. I wanted to better appreciate what I have. I do appreciate what I have. So, thank you for the text messages and calls. They always make my day.

See you in seven months.

Happy New Year!

Roppongi on New Years

Christmas in Tokyo

メリークリスマス everyone!

Day 3 of our trip (Christmas Day) was spent in Tokyo. This photo shows the walls to the Imperial Palace mote with Christmas lights on the right and some of the buildings near Tokyo station.

An English Christmas in Japan

This holiday season is, by far, one of the most unique ones I have ever experienced. There is the obvious reason; being away from my family and wife, but that is only part of my reasoning. So far, I have dressed up as Santa Claus three times (two for work) , attended a gift exchange, attended a foreigner's Christmas party where most gaijin were Chinese, and I had a traditional English (British) Christmas Dinner.

A fellow JET, Janine, who lives a few towns over, invited me to a Christmas dinner that she hosted for her supervisor, English teachers, and Japanese friends. Janine is from England, so she prepared a traditional English Christmas dinner. This dinner was much different than any Christmas dinner I have ever heard of. To start off, we were given “crackers” which are presents that are wrapped around cylindrical tubes and the excess paper is tied with ribbons on both sides of the tube. Each person holds their cracker by crossing their arms and grabbing onto their neighbors’. They then pull the cracker, rip the paper then candy, a joke written on paper, and a Christmas hat fall out. Each guest places their crownesque Christmas hat on and they take turns reading their jokes. Appetizers then were served followed by a pea and cheese soup with a bread board and a glass of red wine. Next came a fish dish with white wine. We had Salmon with cheese on a salad. Next came the main course. We had “Coq au vin” (chicken cooked in wine). After the main course, the cheese board was served. Our cheese board had many french cheeses, grapes, celery, and bread. It was amazing! Finally after all of these dishes comes the dessert. Janine made her family’s “English Trifle” dessert. It had a sponge cake, various fruits, whip cream, and walnuts. Delicious!

The dinner was the first time this year that I began to feel like it’s the holiday season even though it was so different from the Christmas dinners that I’m used to.

Merry Christmas

You may need to press the play button a few times to get the video to play.

Happy Thanksgiving

Obviously, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Japan, but one of our friends hosted a Thanksgiving potluck dinner at her house. We had all the typical Thanksgiving food items: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, mashed potatoes, and many desserts.

We wish that we could have been home for Thanksgiving, but this year, we are especially thankful for such a wonderful and supportive group of friends. They really have become integral to our well being while in Japan away from our families.

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