2010...been there, done that!

2010 is about to come to an end and the Year of the Rabbit is about to begin.

The year was a wonderful ride of ups and downs for me. Luckily, it was about 95% ups. This is my third year living in Japan and was also the year my wife and I had our first child.

Here are a few signs that the year is changing in Japan:

Ebisu Beer, one of Japan's premium brewers has come up with limited time packaging to bring in 2011.


Traditionally, many Japanese people eat soba (buckwheat noodles) そば or 蕎麦 on New Years Eve. This was dinner at my house this evening. My wife prepared a soba soup with tempura shrimp. As you can imagine by the picture, it was delicious.



Nihonshu 日本酒 or sake is a very popular drink on New Years Eve and New Years day. this is the biggest holiday of the year in japan and people enjoy having their liquid happiness to celebrate the holiday! i tok this at my local supermarket this afternoon here in Kobe.


During the New Year, Japanese people tend to eat a lot of mochi 餅. Mochi is essentially a doughy rice cake. it is baked, eaten as is or used in soup on new years day morning.


This is a common gift set given during the new Year. Japanese people are very big on giving gifts. this particular beer/juice set was given t my family by a good friend of mine. He isn't Japanese, but has been in Japan for some time and honours traditions.


This beautiful flower arrangement was given to my family by my sister-in-law. She is a florist in Osaka and made this new Years style arrangement herself. it is an awesome gift to bring in the New Year here in Japan.

I wish everyone out the a very Happy New Year!

Japanese fascination with "American" Christmas

For the first several months that I lived in my current apartment in Japan (the only apartment I've lived in), I had no television. Eventually, I decided I wanted one and was able to get a great deal on a small used television through the Kansai Flea Market, a local English publication. I had to get basic cable in order to recieve any channels, but with basic cable comes no English programming or channels at all. Many folks I meet here have CNN, Discovery Channel, etc., but I have none of those. Sometimes I wish I did, but it's a good thing that I don't. I have only Japanese channels because I want to improve my Japanese listening skells. I fear that if I did indeed have those English channels, I would become lazy and at the end of the day only want to watch Larry Kng as opposed to stretching and pounding my grey matter like it was a bucket of Japanese mochi 餅 (rice cake).

Over the last week or two I've noticed a distinct pattern with many stories on Japanese news. Not hard-hitting news stories, but those "feel good" sort of stories.
I've noticed that Japanese people seem to have a very serious fascination with all things "American" about Christmas. There are constantly news stories with Japanese reporters standing in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, etc., looking at Christmas lights (or "illuminations" as they are called here) and discussing what American families do for Christmas. Ah well...I suppose we all have to have a hobby.


Christmas display in Sannomiya. Kobe, Japan (this afternoon).I like Santa swinging on Kobe Tower....like a jolly Godzilla!


The Christmas/shopping spirit is in the air in Kobe and throughout Japan I'm sure. As I was kicking around downtown earlier this afternoon I saw countless throngs of shoppers out and about. Young women wearing Santa Claus-like outfits (but cut well above the knee) were handing out free tissue packets and shop keepers had happy if not somewhat crazed smiles on their faces.

We went to a store called Nitori this afternoon and bought our Christmas tree. It's a small one, but it does the trick. Nitori is Japan's answer to Ikea, but with more muted colors. It's a cool shop. If you're just moving to Japan and need some furniture and housewares at an affordable price, check the place out.