Monday, Christmas Eve, also known as just another day in Japan.
Posted by: admin in Japan, TravelDecember 24th, 2007
Monday, Christmas Eve, also known as just another day in Japan.
I went to McBreakfast and the Library as usual. I worked out a few alternate train schedules and routes for various places that I may decide to use later in the week. I also downloaded a Mac version of Shogi, or “Japanese Chess.” There’s a good explanation of the rules on Wikipedia as well. Shogi was one of the games included on the Nintendo DS cartridge I bought the other night, and I figured I probably ought to learn it while I’m here.
On the way back, I stopped in at Softbank and bought another phone card. The one I bought on my first day here is going to expire on the 27th, so rather than have a dead phone, I h dot buy another card. I guess there must have been time on the phone already when I bought the first card in September, because it’s been nearly four months since then and the minutes are just now expiring. Today’s 3000Y card will expire toward the end of February, either making me buy another card then or doing without a phone for my last two weeks here. I’ll worry about that later.
I stopped at Co Co Ichi, as is my usual habit and had the same cheese-curry-tonkatsu as the last time. I wasn’t much in the mood to ride the bus home, so I walked from there. It’s about a 40-minute walk home from downtown; it’s cold outside today but it wasn’t windy, so it was nice.
I played a little bit of Civilization when I got home, but the game kept giving me awful starting positions, so after a couple of bad starts, I gave it up for today. I read a bit more of “The Awakened Mage,” part two of the series my brother and sister-in-law sent. I’m about halfway through that one now. I am hoping to finish it before I leave for Kyoto Wednesday morning, since I hate to stop a book in the middle, but I have enough stuff to carry along on that trip already.
Another Japanese Mystery
At 9:00, I heard a racket outside. There were about a dozen guys with wooden blocks walking up and down the stop chanting. “Ya Ya Cha.” <crack> “Ya Ya Cha” <crack>. They cracked the blocks together after the “Ya Ya Cha” chant. They were all dressed in normal street clothes and were moving slowly in a line from house to house. I am a little hard-pressed to describe it; they were going from door to door, much like Christmas carolers would do at home. Yet there was nothing about this that seemed at all even remotely Christmas-like. I suspect it probably has something to do with being 7 days before New Years or a few days after the solstice. I would bet that today being Christmas Eve is just a coincidence. You really just never know what to expect around here.
Other than the strange chanting procession, nothing much here is different from any other day. I walked past Happy Town today looking for a sign posting their hours tomorrow. I didn’t see anything special, so I am assuming they’ll be open. That doesn’t surprise me. I do know that I really need to stock up on food next weekend. Most Japanese have a special box (an elaborate obento) that holds three days’ worth of food for January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. They don’t leave the house, and they don’t cook. They just sit at home with their families for the New Year holiday. Many places are closed for all three days, including restaurants and groceries (hence the 3 day obentos). I’m not big into preparing food or cooking, but I won’t have much choice on those days if everything closes. I also suspect that it would not be a good time to travel.
Marc has changed his mind about going to Miyajima. He wants to save his money for partying in Tokyo. That’s OK; I can go without him at my convenience. He did ask if I was going to go tomorrow. I told him no, because I really don’t know how many things will or won’t be open. I’d hate to get all the way there and find that the ferries to the island weren’t running or something. All right, I realize the ferries would still be running, but many of the tourist attractions on the island could still be closed.
Tomorrow is, of course, Christmas. I’ve gotten all my gifts, and have been playing them, using them, or eating them for the past few weeks. I don’t plan on going anywhere tomorrow except maybe to Happy Town if I can’t find anything here worth eating. I do have a couple of noodle bowls, and we all know about the noodle-bowl-on-Christmas tradition, don’t we? No? Basically, the plan for tomorrow is to finish reading that book, play some video games if there is time left over, and then in the evening to pack for Kyoto. Then, very early Wednesday morning, I’ll head to the train station to begin that adventure. I’ll be back probably Friday evening, or if I want to stay an extra day, Saturday night. I couldn’t find anything on the hotel’s website about them having Internet access. If they do, then I’ll be posting blog reports through my time there. If not, then I’ll post it all when I get back.
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