Outside of My Ishikawa Bubble - Osaka and Kyoto Pt.V

1/1/2010

Shin nen akemashite omedetou gozaimasu! Happy New Year!

Get up! It's oshougatsu and it's time to go to hatsumode. The first day of the year is the busiest day in the year for many reasons. Obviously, everyone has the day off so everyone is out and about. Most people spend their time doing the following: visiting a shrine, eating with family, and shopping. During the first few days of the new year people go and visit a shrine to pray for good luck in the new year. This is what they call hatsumode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsumode

At the torii gates into the shrine

Everyone is lining up to throw a coin into the box, ring the bell, and pray

Usually there are a lot of vendors there selling omikuji and omamori. There are also food vendors who sell street food, like takoyaki or karage. If you are lucky, like I was, then the shrine won't be too busy. However, most shrines are busiest during this first week of the year. I went to a shrine in Osaka. To be honest, I can't remember the name of it.

Holding my holy arrow that will protect me in the New Year. All for a low price of 1,000Y.

Funky Monkey

Water purification. Make sure you wash yourself!

And be sure not to drink that water...

Inside one of the shrines. Those ropes are connected to the giant golden bells

you can see in the picture. Give it a good pull for good luck.

Walking around the shrine grounds

Sake heaven

Stitch heaven. I love how the sign says "Disney World," but it only features Stitch.

I walked on that bridge! Yeah!

The second stop of the day was the mall. Why is shopping so important on New Year's Day? Because that's when all the sales are. New Year's Day is the Black Friday of Japan. Actually, their sales are even better than those of the U.S. Not only are the prices reduced for most items in the store, they also have grab bags that are called Fukubukuro. They put in lots of different items that will soon be out of season into these "happy bags" and sell them for about $50, $100 or $200, depending on the store. Most of the time they won't allow you to peek inside, so you have to trust that you'll like the style of clothing. The first store I went to, I threw away $100 in an instant. In my defense, I did see the style of clothes included in the bags and there were only two left by this time. I figured it must be good if they sold all of them already and it was only 11am. Within two hours I had spent the $200 that I withdrew earlier that morning. By 1pm, I was tired and ready for lunch. I don't know how all those people do it. I think they must do research beforehand.

Aeon Mall. Popular chain mall in Japan.

I can't remember what we did after this. And, unfortunately, I have no pictures to refresh my memory. Flash forward to 9pm.

Later that night

I got on my first overnight bus. This bus would be driving all night from Osaka to Tokyo, with various stops along the way. It is the cheapest method of transport in Japan, but it takes up so much time! Luckily, you can sleep on the overnight bus and when you wake up you are magically transported to a new land. :) Thus ends my Osaka trip.