Saturday, January 3, 2015
Hidemi’s Rambling No.533
New Year’s Day is the biggest holiday in Japan. It’s as big as
Thanksgiving and Christmas put together. It’s a day when millions of
people visit shrines and temples wearing kimono or their best clothes
and pray for good luck by offering money into the boxes. Before
midnight, shrines and temples begin to seethe with people. I used to be
one of them when I lived in my hometown, but now I just watch the tumult
on TV at home every year. I recall New Year’s Day of 2011 as my
merriest one. Back then, I still lived in the apartment in a suburb of
Tokyo. The plan to move into this rural town had been already arranged,
but I hadn’t moved out yet. From the last minutes of New Year’s Eve to
the first minutes of New Year’s Day, shrines and temples all over Japan
ring the bell 108 times. 108 represents the number of worldly desires of
each person. The bell ring is supposed to take them away one by one for
the new year. I was listening to the faint sound of the bell that a
temple near my apartment was ringing when 2011 arrived. I opened a
bottle of champagne, which is too expensive for me to drink except on
this day every year, prepared the New Year’s meal that’s not traditional
but of my own style, and had it with my partner who looked somewhat to
be in bad shape, while watching a comedy live show on TV. After I
watched the first sunrise of the year over Mt. Fuji on TV, I turned on
my PC and found that my new song that I had spent several years to
complete was put up on i-Tunes and Amazon for the first time. I felt
like a new life for me had started with the new year and it would get
better from now on, with my new apartment in a new place in the wings
and my new song made public. I guess the reason why New Year’s Day of
2011 was the merriest for me isn’t just an expensive champagne or the
New Year’s meal or the comedy show. It’s because I felt so much hope. I
continued watching comedy TV shows until noon that day feeling so good,
and when I was about to go to bed, my partner confessed that he had
caught a cold and was undoubtedly sick…