We are back from Thailand, just in time for Japan’s biggest holiday, New Year (正月). We plan on going to Zojoji (増上寺) Temple, near Tokyo Tower, to do the New Year Countdown. If you see on TV balloons being let go in front of Tokyo Tower then think of Ellie as being the one who let them go.

Tokyo is very peaceful at the moment (especially compared to Thailand) as most businesses are closed and many people have split town for the next 5 days to a week. Most doors have some sort of New Year’s decoration on them. These are called shimekazari (注連飾り). The one above I couldn’t even see before my flash went off, but I was sure Mrs. Uchida would have one.

Above is one more close up.

We didn’t want to be the only ones without something on their door so we put up a poster provided by our friendly, neighborhood Nishi Waseda Culture Association. 2010 is the year of the tiger.

And now back to our Thailand trip…

Related posts:

1. Happy New Year! あけましておめでとうございます! Happy New Year everyone. We rang in the 2010 New Year at the 22nd annual countdown at Zojoji (増上寺), complete with Tokyo Tower in the background, ringing of the...
2. A year in Japan is finally official I never seriously thought I’d make it back to Japan, especially on a long-term basis, after having lived in Yamanashi Ken and the Kanto region in the late 80s for...
3. New Year Greeting from Emperor Akihito On January 2 of each year the emperor of Japan makes a rare, “public” appearance. He doesn’t actually go out in public, but the public comes to see him...
4. Near the top of the Mori Tower The guidebook in our apartment (copyright pre-2003) said there is no point in going to Roppongi unless you are going at night. Well, we had no plans one Sunday...
5. More views of the Tokyo Tower Continuing the series… Ellie and I sat at this window for a while enjoying the view from near the top of the Mori Tower in Roppongi. From the Hiroo...

Posted on December 30th, 2009 under Japan • Tags: nishi-waseda, signs. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed