Hatsuhinode on Nanikore

明けましておめでとうございます 2017

Thu, 05 Jan 2017 12:29:44 +0000

Happy New Year 2017 (明けましておめでとうございます 2017). This year, for the first time in 9 years, I was back in the UK for Xmas and New Year, and much of that was on the road, so this post is a little late. Can’t believe it’s been that long.

New Year was a more UK style ‘drinks at midnight’ affair with the family, and though I was planning a hatsuhinode morning sunriseviewing, heavy cloud and rain put an end to that unfortunately. Also, the idea of getting up at that time after seeing the midnight over with a few drinks either side was always unlikely to happen.

We’re now back in Japan, so there are some New Year traditions to sort out this weekend, then it’s figuring out snowboarding trips and potentially, a change of motorbike.

All the best to everyone for 2017.

明けましておめでとうございます 2016!

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 07:27:17 +0000

A slightly belated [greeting]((/2017/01/05/%E6%98%8E%E3%81%91%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8A%E3%82%81%E3%81%A7%E3%81%A8%E3%81%86%E3%81%94%E3%81%96%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%992017/) into 2016, which we’ll be calling Heisei 28. It’s all about the reign of the Emperors, and is designed to confuse me when I come to sort my taxes out next month.

We did the midnight tick-over at home with the family, but for Hatsuhinode - the first sunrise of the year - I was out on the motorbike to meet up with some friends. Since I was riding into the sunrise, I thought I’d get the old GoPro Hero 2 out and do a timelapse:

We met up at a Konbini, and I was able to get my traditional biking breakfast of onigiri, but this one was unfortunately common - grilled salmon (焼き鮭) but still did the trick.

Then it was time to ride back up the 134 through lighter traffic, to meet up with a few more people at the Seisho SA, which boasts a great view of the bay, clean toilets and allows you to enjoy the quality musical coffee machines. I never get bored of this Pacific Ocean road on the bike, and just have to remember to take my turn inland - it’s easy to just keep following this road down the Izu pensinsula.

From there, it was on up to the Mazda Skylounge to take in the view along the Mazda turnpike (now 520yen one way).

At the Skylounge you can guarantee a good selection of people on any given day, and here on New Year’s Day I was impressed to see a steady stream of older people - alone and in groups - come up in taxis, take in the view and perhaps have a drink, then get back in the taxis to wherever they’d come from. For myself I had a cup of tea and decided to try the chili cheese hot dog. In no way traditional, or even advisable, but it did taste pretty good. No photo sadly.

Finally, thanks to Frank for getting a line-up shot and for putting the day together:

Here’s to hoping 2016 continues as well as it started, and all the best to everyone.

明けましておめでとうございます 2015!

Sat, 03 Jan 2015 00:59:49 +0000

Another new year is upon us - 2015, or heisei ( 平成) 27 by the local system - so Happy New Year, or Akemashite Omedetougozaimasu as it is said. 明けましておめでとうございます 2015! (Or Ake Ome to it’s friends)

After a year off, this year I was back down to the ocean to watch the first sunrise, and whilst there was the usual numbers of people, and upbeat atmosphere to it, it was pretty much clouded over. Ah well, it still felt good and it still qualifies as ‘hatsuhi’, the first sunrise.

This year there was a little more organisation along the coastal road to stop people parking and obstructing traffic, the usual modded cars with insane exhausts, and the bosazoku on their modded motorbikes. All in all, it’s a good thing to go down and witness, and after watching the eastern horizon for a while, you can turn around, and watch the year’s first sunrise on the snow covered sides of Mt. Fuji.

Have a great year!

明けましておめでとうございます / Happy New Year２０１３

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:22:31 +0000

Another New Year comes crashing around, and I’m hoping for another good one - so 明けましておめでとうございます! No retrospectives, or lists or anything by the way; I tend to want to look forwards at this time of year.

As far as our New Year celebrations went, we had a quiet one at home for the midnight tick over, but then we were up just after 5am this morning to get the family ready and down to the beach to watch the sunrise with a few thousand other people. I did this last year, and though it was busy, it was fairly quiet. This year it seemed to be a complete circus, not just with the thousands come to see the sunrise on the Pacific beaches, but the roads were busy, especially with young guys in heavily modded cars. If anything, it added an extra flavour to the morning, and in the cold and with a few clouds, we watched the sun rise for the first time on 2013.

Given the shape of the bay, we could also see the sun’s rays hit Mt. Fuji for the first time, as surfers got their first waves of the New Year in. It was all quite relaxing given the hour and the temperature. Potentially the kids may not share my opinion of that.

As soon as the sun was fully up, people began bustling away, and we got some breakfast at one of the cafes which was open on the beach road, and then made our way home. I have to say, I do quite like this ‘first sunrise’ event, called ’ _[Hatsuhinode]((/2017/01/05/%E6%98%8E%E3%81%91%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8A%E3%82%81%E3%81%A7%E3%81%A8%E3%81%86%E3%81%94%E3%81%96%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%992017/), and even if we left Japan, it’s something I’d probably still do.

Soon after lunch though we were out again at the local jinja (that’s a Shinto shrine, not an o-tera, which is a Buddhist temple), and they’re usually attended at midnight on New Years Eve) to pray to the local deities and made a small donation. I’ve been to a few shrine events, so I just had to help the kids get through throwing the coin, two bows, two claps and a prayer and move on. It went went well apart from my youngest, when seeing us close our eyes shouted, “Don’t go to sleep!” which got a ripple of laughter from those behind us in the queue.

There’s always a queue on January 1st., and for most of the o-shogatsu period, as people pray for good luck for the year, and pick up various objects to bring good luck for the year, such as a hamaya, which is a small wooden arrow to bring luck, given it’s origin is that of a weapon to slay demons. We picked one of these up for a small fee, as my wife had never had one when she was a child, so she was keen to get one with our kids.

We also got an ’ omikuji’ (お神籤), which is a printed fortune selected by which piece of wood you get at random from a drum. Some people tie them on frames of string, or trees and such near the shrines. (For what it’s worth, ours was a pretty good one - dai-kichi).

After that, it was late afternoon and time for a break, so we’ve concluded New Years Day with a lamb stew I’d been cooking for a few hours, a glass of red wine, and having an evening in with the family. I should say that there is some traditional food for this period, called ’ osechi ryouri’, but we don’t have them (my partner really doesn’t like them, and I’m not keen), and instead take the time to cook a few more winter based meals.

All in all a great start to 2013!