After seven hours on the night bus, I finally reached Sendai! A much colder region of Japan, there was even some snow accumulated on the ground. I was so tired that they just took me straight back to my friend’s apartment where I iced and put up my foot, and ate breakfast and we chatted. We spent the day pretty much relaxing and talking. Then that night we went out to eat curry at this really nice steak place (they were probably pissed that they only customers they got ordered the cheapest thing on the menu) and then we went to an onsen! My first real one! It was a pretty cool experience. An onsen is a Japanese natural hot spring/public bath. So you do the same thing that you do with any public bath: wash and bathe before you enter the bath with a bunch of other naked women. But the difference with a natural onsen is that the bath is outside! The mixture of the piping hot water with the chilly winter air was blissful. So relaxing. There’s also a bunch of etiquette rules that goes with an onsen. For instance, you are given one small towel when you go in, about the size of a hand towel. You can use it when washing with the provided soap and shampoo but when you go in the actual bath you are not allowed to let it touch the water because that’s considered unclean. So you can use it to cover your parts when you walk out but make sure to move it to the top of your head (the typical spot) when you enter the water. You also have to sit down while bathing. You have two waterspouts, one out of a faucet, and one that’s attached to a showerhead. You use the showerhead to rinse your hair and then you fill a basin with the faucet and use it to rinse the towel, douse yourself with to remove soap. We talked with a Japanese woman while we were sitting in the onsen and she was surprised to see two white girls out in this middle of nowhere town. But it was a really neat experience and I would definitely go again.
I spent most of my week in Sendai eating, sleeping in, drinking, karaoke and going out. It was a really nice vacation and I had really great hosts. =) The small town feeling was a nice change. All of Harold’s friends were really nice and even drove us around. They also gave us loads of homemade, delicious Osechi, food for the New Year! One of his friends gave us a full out 3-layer box of Japanese goodies that were elaborately prepared by hand by his mother accompanied by homemade apple juice! We were also given homemade mochi from his other friend that we ate hot and it was delicious. Mochi is a kind of Japanese food that’s unlike anything I’ve ever had in America. It can be put in soup, stew, or eaten just as a sweet. Harold’s friend, Tajima, put it with sweet, handmade sauces that were really amazing. Mochi itself is white and it has a kind of chewy, melty, sweet flavor to it. It’s probably one of my favorite foods in Japan.
New Year’s was quite a different experience than I’m used to. In Japan it’s custom to visit the local temple at midnight when it turns from one year to the next. So we set out to the nearest one around 10:30pm. It was so cold! But we walked up the 220 steps to the top (and nearly keeled over) to stand in line to make our wishes for the new year. When the clock finally changed to 12am 1/1/11, we screamed out “Happy New Year!” in English among a thousand plus Japanese people which incurred a few looks. We also exclaimed the Japanese expression, of course. ;) The temple gates were opened and we filed in line to make our prayer/wishes. So customarily, you throw in a small coin, bow twice, clap twice, make your prayer, and then bow again. We found out from our Japanese friend that on New Years, if you throw in a 1 yen coin, it means you have a crush on someone and wish to become one with that person. You throw a 5-yen coin in if you already have a lover and want to continue with them. And then you throw a 10-yen coin in if you just want love in general to find you that year. I just threw in 11 cents for the year 2011. I sent my Happy New Years texts to all my friends and yes, the phone lines are just as crowded on New Year's in Japan as they are in America. It took about 5 tries to get it through. I did learn, however, that Yoi Otoshi Wo, which is what you say to others as a “Hope you have a good year!” type of saying is only used BEFORE the New Year. You’re not allowed to use it afterwards. Oops.
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| The Torii of the Temple we went to! We had to walk up all those steps >.< |
Then after you finish making your wish, there’s a festival that takes place around the temple. We all picked 100 yen New Years fortunes for the fun of it and were pleasantly surprised! They were all good. =) Mine was apparently a very nice one, and it said I would have good health this year. (Boy could I use that!) The fortunes also contained one of the 7 lucky gods. I got Yebisu, the god of fishermen who is known for bringing good luck and health. Yay! His name is also known for a Japanese brand name of beer. *G* After that, we enjoyed some free, hot tea that they were giving us and it was so nice because we were so cold! The streets are filled with food stands you can buy from too. It was pretty cool to have a festival at 1-2 in the morning, though admittedly we were so cold we did not stay long. We bought some small sweets (chocolate bananas anyone?) and headed back to the car. On the way back, we heard this woman saying, “touch touch touch” in English behind us. We were really confused so we turned around and a woman and her five-year-old daughter were coming up to us saying, “touch, high touch.” They wanted a high five from us! It was so adorable! I guess they had noticed us because we were foreigners in a very local, not often traveled to area and wanted to say hello. So we wished them a happy new year and headed home. It’s also a custom in Japan to stay up and watch the first sunrise of the year but we were so exhausted we just passed out when we got home haha. Maybe next year!
When the year changes, it's customary for stores and homes to put up kadomatsu, a kind of new years gate decoration around the entrance door. It's placed to welcome ancestral spirits and house gods of the harvest. So there will be a pair (representing male and female), one on each side and they are usually made up of three stalks of bamboo that are artfully cut. These are placed at different levels and represent heaven, humanity, and earth. Pine branches, and other decorative features like berries and fans can also be added to make it more e. I noticed them a lot around Miyagi and I thought it was a really neat tradition!
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| Now just imagine two of these framing the doorways of Japanese homes and shops! ;) |
On my last day in Miyagi we drove to the shopping area of Sendai for some last minute fun and so I could get omiyage (gifts) for my host family. We wanted to make sure we did purikura together to commemorate the trip so we did that first. It was really fun taking time to draw all over them and thoroughly add smileys, sparkles, and bows everywhere (there was no one behind us so we were able to take our time. Purikura takes a surprisingly long time because there’s so many options, tabs, colors, etc.- you’d be surprised!). After eating (we found a diner!) and shopping around for a bit, it was finally time to leave so my friends took me to Sendai station to buy omiyage for my family. I asked them what food Sendai is most known for and the answer: cow tongue. Yeah. I did try it. It was actually pretty good but I don’t think I could actually eat it because the thought grosses me out. But I bought it for my family (who loved it by the way), said my good byes, and boarded the bus for home! What a great oshougatsu (New Year's Holiday)! ^^
Okay, that's all for my trip! Thanks for reading. <3 それではまた次回！
Word of the day: まつぽい or matsupoi is a word from touhokuben (the accent of the area of Sendai I was in) which means “really bright.” We used it a lot because of the reflection on the snow! ^^;
Phrase of the day: 明けましておめでとうございます！ Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! Happy New Year!
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