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New Year's Eve
Three generations of Aokis. Mr. Aoki and his daughter play hagoita while Grandmother Aoki kneads soba noodles in the background. 99.12.31/ Temperature: 5.5C/ Weather: Partly cloudy/ Wind Direction: SE
Start: Sano City, 36 18 50 N 139 34 47 E
Destination: Tochigi City, 36 22 27 N 139 43 51 E
Distance Traveled: 21 kmToday is the last day of 1999! Growing up in America, the New Year for me has always been a time of celebration with friends and family, as well as a time to turn a new leaf or set objectives for the future. I spent the day discovering how exactly people spend their New Year's eve and what hopes they have for the New Year to come.
Leaving central Sano this morning, there was seldom a sole to be found. It is my guess that many Japanese people took the rare opportunity to sleep in. Dodging the main highway I ducked down a side street which led me through a fairly residential area.
A young grandmother washes her car as she finishes up her cleaning for the year. Those I did meet along the street were busy cleaning, an important custom carried out before the turn of the New Year. Small fires burned trash gathered by families' "grand cleanings". Looking closely I could see the ash remains of cardboard boxes, shopping bags, packaging and even some cans. An elder woman sprayed her driveway clean using a hose. A beauty shop owner waxed her car. One gentleman made some last detailed touches to his garden hedges. All of the cleaning going on reminded me of spring clean-up back home.
Unlike my family's whimsical attempts to bring order to our house each spring, the cleaning that I witnessed today is linked to New Year's rituals. Speaking with several locals, it occurred to me that their grand cleaning is the last of the year's major duties. "Cleaning one's house for the kami (gods) which look over us throughout the year is related to old traditions in Shinto shrines," explained one gentleman.
"I'm done for the year," said one jovial gentleman out in his yard. His son was burning cardboard boxes behind us. "I hope for a calm and peaceful year. I hope for good health and simple happiness," he told me sharing with me his new year's resolution. He will head to Kawasaki this evening to make his year's first visit to a famous shrine and spend the following three days at rest. A young grandmother wished for the good health of her one-year-old grandchild, and several people expressed their hopes for good health throughout the year.
Burning the last of the year's trash from a big clean-up is a young husband. Upon arrival at the Aoki's house, where I am to spend the holiday, I was quickly swung into the New Year's eve rhythm. The youngest of the Aoki's (9) invited me to join her in a game of "hagoita" (a Japanese game of paddle-ball similar to badminton). Shortly after, while hagoita continued between father and daughter in the living room, I was given a lesson in making soba noodles from Grandmother Aoki. The long noodles consumed all over Japan on the eve of the New Year symbolize a wish for long life.
We slurped the delicious soba noodles as the popular music program "Kohaku uta gassen" blared in the background. Every year, this NHK (a Japanese television station) program features the most popular Japanese songs in spectacular performances. Aside from Grandfather Aoki who claims he doesn't understand new music, the Aokis watched with such curiosity and knowledge about the performers on the show one might think they actually know them.
Grandmother Aoki kneads soba dough with feet. The eldest Aoki daughter hopes to pass her high school examination in the year 2000. Her grandmother wishes for good health and hopes to look after her family. Mr. Aoki is looking forward to completing a list of Tochigi Prefecture plants in the New Year. Grandfather Aoki contends that he has done all that he needs to in life. "I just wish for good health," he said cheerfully.
As for me and my New Year's resolutionsc Since it is my dream to walk the length of Japan in search of wisdom, I wish to carry out this journey in good health. In an age where our wisdom will pave our future, I resolve to not only search for wisdom, but also to take action in my own life to see that wisdom found comes to live within me.
I wish all of the people I met today well in their new year's resolutions and I wish the same for all in WSN. You have all leant me your strength throughout the year; I thank you all very much and look forward to working together in a bright year 2000.
Slightly nervous about what might result from Y2K problems.
Greg
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