Category: Travel and Places
When you are a foreigner in Japan, their ain`t no cure for the Wintertime blues. This year, I elected to stay in Japan due to the expensive plane tickets back to the US or anywhere from Japan for that matter since this would be the time that the Japanese travel due to the last three days of December and the first three days in January being days when everything is closed and on holiday schedule.
First, as a foreigner in Japan at this time of the year, you are away from family. Christmas and Thanksgiving are those times when you go home if given the chance. In Japan, this imported holiday has been big in decorations but even bigger with the lovers and the love hotels in Japan are booked a year in advance for this day. Clearly, this is in conflict with this Christian holiday were the birth of Jesus is celebrated. Non-Japanese will go out for singing and dancing and whatnot for New Years which is in conflict with the Japanese who go to the local shrines for worship and to the nearby family's home and have a Japanese version of the holiday spread consisting of osechi ryouri (a variety of dishes prepared for New Year's such as fish cakes, seafood, cooked vegetables, cooked beans, candied chestnuts etc.). Very Japanese and takes some getting use to.
Then, there is the chill factor which requires sitting on a cold commode (unless you have a fancy toilet that warms the lid), and no central heating in the average Japanese dwelling. I remember our first winter in Japan, we didn't have a bed and sleeping on a futon on top of a tatami mat and relying on a wall danbou (which acts like a air conditioner in the summer). Ours would blow out hot air but since it is at the top of the wall, it would never get down to us on the floor.
Lastly, besides visiting with family, going to church, eating a big ham, exchanging gifts and calling up family and friends to wish them a happy holiday season, I really miss watching American Football games. At this time of the year, there are football games nearly on a daily basis ranging from a post-season bowl game in Hawaii to the annual bowl game in Atlanta and all places in between. One of my fondest memory was watching the New Year's Day 1981 Sugar Bowl on TV where a freshman by the name of Hershel Walker led the Univ. of Georgia Bulldogs past the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the National Championship. I've been a UGA football fan since which hasn't been easy growing up in South Carolina.
In Japan, there is the annual American Football game known as the Rice Bowl which is played in the Tokyo Dome. The top Japanese university team takes on the top semi-pro company team. It's just not the same.
The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10
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