Culture

From the stroke of midnight that brings in the New Year, and well into the first week of January, the Japanese go to pray at a temple of their choosing.

But it’s by no means just praying, as there are numerous stalls selling food and souvenirs, plus omikuji (fortune readings) are eagerly snapped up. You’ll also find the atmosphere to be relaxed and celebratory rather than pious.

But as you can see from the picture below, most of all it’s a time for peace and tranquility. A moment to be spent alone with your thoughts.

I’m 876 rows back, and 96 in from the left. The one with black hair

The people down at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama must have really been struggling for a New Year event this year. Presumably they discussed it, yet for reasons we will probably never know, they ended up opting for the sea lion-drawing-kanji-for-monkey routine. Indeed, that old chestnut.

Yes, Jonao the sea lion must have really wowed the no doubt humungous crowds as he expertly drew the kanji for monkey. Appropriately enough this year’s animal according to the Chinese zodiac. They thought of everything didn’t they?

As pathetic as this event is, what’s arguably worse is that this bloody sea lion can write kanji better than me.

There must have been some cheating going on. Surely?

Just like everywhere else, the beginning of the year here is all about sales, sales, and more sales. This means that the Japanese don’t miss out on seeing something they bought last week, now selling for half its original price. Isn’t that such a wonderful feeling?

But in Japan you can attempt to inflict further misery upon yourself by buying a fukubukuro. These are bags priced from 1,000 Yen upwards, and contain unseen goods. The combined value of which is supposed to be worth more than the asking price. The translation for fukubukuro is lucky bag. Regardless of its name, and the supposedly good value, I’m not convinced.

For 1,000 Yen I guess it’s fair enough. That’s not exactly a huge amount of cash. But the most popular fukubukuro’s are between 10 and 20,000 Yen. That’s a lot of money. Up to 100 Pound. Especially so when you don’t know what you are going to get.

Yet these prices pale into comparison when you take a look at some of the big boys on offer. The Mitsukoshi department store comes out top this year, offering a lucky bag for the princely sum of 100,000,000 Yen (over 500,000 Pounds). A bit further behind, but not exactly in the bargain basement range is Isetan’s offering. For 30,000,000 Yen, they have a Fukubukuro that contains a house (that’s one big bag!). But what kind of house is unknown. Worth taking a chance? A 150,000 Pound gamble? And lastly we have the Seibu department store’s top fukubukuro. For a cool 20,000,000 Yen, you get a bag with some jewellery in it. For over 100,000 Pounds, that’s got to be some serious stuff. How many sovereign rings would that be!?

It’s hard enough to imagine having so much money, but if you did, would you spend it on something you couldn’t see, and quite possibly wouldn’t like? I don’t know if my understanding of the word lucky is a bit off, but buying a bag full of stuff you can’t see is asking for trouble in my books. There’s certainly a good chance you might end up looking as despondent as this fukubukuro gambler.

Being in Tokyo at this time of year can have its disadvantages. For starters, New Years Eve isnt the go-out-and-get-absolutely-shit-faced-drunk kind of night. Not in the slightest. Instead its common to eat noodles and watch TV. Hmm.

Also, the banks are closed for 3 or 4 days, so if you forget to draw some money out before late afternoon on the 31st, then you are in for a poor start to the New Year. Quite literally.

But there are advantages. Well, one to be exact. Usually the trains are like this:

Yet for a few peaceful days over the New Year, they are like this:

Look, theres even room to lie down!

Having just re-read this post, I think I’ve inadvertently managed to demonstrate how dull the New Year can be here. Ho hum.