3 posts tagged “new years eve”

1. Did you kiss anyone at midnight on New Years?
Yes, my wife.

2. Are your holiday decorations still up?
They were until yesterday when my wife took them down.

3. Did you gain weight over the holidays, and if so how do you plan on getting rid of it?
Probably some weight gainage since we ate so much during the holidays .. It's not something I worry about though.

4. Do you play video games?
Yes. I got the Wii this Christmas and it's awesome! =)

5. Do you have pets? Let's see them.
Unfortunately the apartment I live in has a no pets policy. But if we could have a pet we would get a dog.

How are you ringing in the New Year tonight?

Show us how you rang in the new year!

At 11:15 PM on New Year's Eve my wife and I started walking to the nearest shrine to pray. On the way there we met 2 of her friends and continued our walk in the cold night. It took about half of an hour to get to the shrine where there was a line forming. We got in line and waited until midnight when an announcement was made opening the New Year's prayers. At midnight a portable shrine was carried around the shrine area. Pretty soon it was our turn to pray. We tossed our money in the prayer box, rang the bell, and said our prayers. Then we walked a short distance to another shrine in the same area and did the same thing (wait on short line, toss money in the prayer box, ring the bell, and say a prayer.) Next we walked over to the fortune telling booth and bought our fortunes for 100 yen each.  My fortune said I will have medium luck this year. My wife's fortune predicted she will have great luck this year. The fortunes are written on a peice of paper that we tie to a small rope then we headed back home.

Overview of the events in videos below-

As is the tradition we had a delicious huge dinner on New Year's Eve in Iwate.