The Japan (Winter) Diaries - Day Four
December 31, 2016
My fourth full day in Japan was New Year’s Eve. I slept in a little later this morning, in preparation of being out late to celebrate ringing in the New Year’s — I had plans to meet up with Dr. Yoshida to visit one of his friends and do some shrine-hopping.
My morning started in Tokyo Station, hunting down the famous Character Street — literally a “street” of stores for all the popular characters like Hello Kitty, Gudetama(!), Rilakkuma, Ghibli, Pokemon, etc. I was in heaven; a money-sucking heaven.
Down the “street”, being that this is indoors, I found a store selling a large variety of Kitkats, the biggest variety in one spot that I had ever found. Naturally, I stocked up on some previously tried favorite flavors and some unique flavors I had yet to try. While I love anything green tea/matcha flavored, I am a huge fan of the sake-flavored KitKats; they seriously taste like sake and even have a smidge of alcohol in them. You can’t get the sake ones in the States (at the time, at least to my knowledge, and certainly not in my city in Louisisna), like you can the matcha and strawberry ones, and they can be pretty pricey on Amazon for that reason.
A month or so before my trip, I found out that not only is there a Gudetama Cafe in Osaka, but there was one in Tokyo too, in Ikebukuro! That is where I stopped next because I had recently became a Gudetama fan (a Sanrio character, with the most adorable lil booty); Gudetama means “lazy egg”. At the absolutely adorable cafe where I nearly died from the cuteness, I ordered a latte — that I expected to have Gudetama latte art on it, but was sadly disappointed that it did not — and a Gudetama curry. Everything was almost too cute to consume.
After the Gudetama Cafe, I stopped by another nearby Pokemon Store in Sunshine City, the biggest Pokemon store in Tokyo, one I had visited my last trip with my judo group. Then it was back to the hotel to drop off all of my purchases of the day and to rest a little before meeting Dr. Yoshida.
I met Dr. Yoshida at eight o’clock and headed to his friends apartment. His friends wife had a lovely, traditional Japanese New Year dinner set up. There was nabe, sardines, osechi — traditional New Years food in lacquered boxes resembling bento boxes — persimmon seeds, and even sake from Amori prefecture and sake from Akita prefecture. They also had a New Year’s Eve TV program playing with famous Japanese comedians and musicians making appearances, including Gen Hoshino and PPAP…
Thirty minutes until midnight, I slipped my sake-swollen feet into my shoes and followed Dr. Yoshida to the first shrine of the night. Most shrines close at dark, but not for New Years; many people make their first shrine visit of the year at midnight (or up to three days later), so the shrines were still popping. We ended up being on the train the minute the clock struck midnight, but things were still going way after; I ended up getting back to my hotel at 4:30 a.m., not even bothering to stay up long enough to watch the first sunrise of the year, much to my regret now.
At the shrine we had visited though, they served this thick, sweet, and very hot amizake. I wasn’t too fond of it and once again had a horrible headache, so the sweetness didn’t help one bit. Apparently I just really needed water. Always rotate in your water guys!
I parted ways with Dr. Yoshida after this first shrine and headed for Harajuku, to visit Meiji Shrine. The lines — or should I say crowds — were crazy, so I never made it to the actual main shrine, after much walking, but I did stop by the stalls they had set up, selling dango and other festival-type foods.
On my way back to the hotel, I passed by a Starbucks in the train station selling their Lucky Bags or “fukubukuro” already; it starts on the first, so technically they were right on time. Lucky Bags are very popular in Japan and many stores sell them the first few days of the New Year’s. Usually, the contents are a mystery, but some places are starting to tell you a list of what you can expect inside. It’s usually meant to get rid of extra merchandise from the year, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be getting junk necessarily. I am so glad I picked up a Starbucks one; I didn’t even have to wait in line to get it like some of my favorite J-Vloggers did.
Highlight of the Day
the Gudetama cafe
Favorite Food of the Day
Gudetama curry
Favorite Snack of the Day
Persimmon seeds @ dinner
Favorite Drink of the Day
the sake from Amori and Akita
Where to next?
