Happy New Year!
Another year rolls in! It’s been a long time, but I went down to the beach to do a bit of hatsuhinode – watching the first sunrise of the year. The beach around Enoshima is quite popular for this, partly because it’s the beach, and partly because Enoshima has a lot of shrines people can pray at, which is another popular tradition.
Just where I was there were hundred of people, some just jogging or walking their dogs, some getting the first surf of the year. A lot were sitting and chatting with friends, and that’s good too.
As ever, I took a flask of hot tea because it’s cold down there! However, a few hundred people had gone into McDonalds!
The sun rose, as it does most days, but these events do have an interesting feel to them, so whilst I would recommend watching a sunrise in general anyway, I’d certainly recommend doing hatsuhinode if you happen to be in Japan and find out where the local gathering spots are.
