New Year Finished

The Japanese New Year (Oshogatsu 正月) has come and gone. It was my first New Year in Japan and it was definitely an interesting one. On New Years Eve, I went hiking on Mt. Ikoma 生駒山 in Osaka with a new friend, Andrew. He's been in Japan for quite some time and a seasoned Mt. Ikoma veteran. He showed me a really good hike. We started on the Osaka side of the mountain and came down the other side in Nara Prefecture.

New Years day saw me visiting Nishinomiya Shrine 西宮神社 in the city of Nishinomiya. We went there to for Hatsumode 初詣. Hatsumode is the first visit of the year to the shrine for Japanese people. Many go there after midnight on January 1st and if not, they go during the daytime on the 1st. People offer money to the shrine, pray and often get their fortune.


Here's a quick little unedited video of my Hatsumode trip to Nishinomiya Shrine on the afternoon of January 1st.

Hatsumode 初詣 Nishinomiya Shrine



Here's another very cool perspective on Hatsumode. Elevencolors, a Japanese based vlogger, who lives in Tokyo went to Hatsumode at the Meiji Shrine 明治神宮 in downtown Tokyo after midnight on New Years. He stood in line for hours. The crowds here are HUGE!

初詣 ～ Hatsumode



So, my holidays are about to come to an end. 3 weeks of blissful "not working" are about to all fall apart on Monday morning as I head back to school. My first New Year in Japan was a wonderful learning experience and a great chance to learn about my new family and their culture. All very cool stuff...well, not about having to go back to work!

When YouTube Gaijin unite!

Another day on vacation, another day to sleep a little later than usual. Good stuff, but I did get up relatively early. There was some editing to do on some footage I took the other night when we were out at a Korean restaurant. It's been a long time since I've had some decent Korean food soI was pretty pleased to have some great "gamjatang" 감자탕 (spicy pork and potato soup) and "pajoen" 파전 (green onion pancake). You can see the finished product here:

Some Great Korean Food

The restaurant is called "Salongbang" and is located in Sannomiya, downtown Kobe. It was a little pricey, but apparently Korean food normally is in Japan.


Today was also quite cool because I had a chance to meet another fellow You Tube vlogger. "Marlogum" came down from Nagoya with his wife Antonette. they have been spending a few days traveling around Kansai and stopped by Kobe this afternoon to see some of the sights and say hello. I acted as their tour guide for the afternoon and had a very cool time hanging out in Motomachi, Meriken Park as well as Ikuta Shrine.


Here's what Ikuta Shrine looked like this afternoon. This tree is a decoration for "Oshogatsu" 正月 (Japanese New Year). There will be a big countdown celebration there on New Year's Eve.

I took some footage of us all hanging out together in Kobe this afternoon. If time allows, I'll edit something together and post it here later this week.