More New Year Snaps 2012

Being in Tokyo around New Year’s is always a lot of fun. The subways keep running around the clock and there are a lot of people in motion. Most people who make a night of it go to just one shrine to wish a happy new year but some people make the most of it and visit two or three. Some crazy people like myself usually end up with a list of four or five in one night. This new year was no exception. After ringing in the new year at Zojoji temple (I know, visiting a temple at New Year’s is a little bit unusual) I enjoyed a little bit of sightseeing (some mochi, rice, pounding, some music) before moving on four shrines in the Kagurazaka area, all within walking distance. You might recognize Akagi Shrine from earlier posts, and Tokyo Dai Jingu as well, here represented by a shot of the first ever English fortune slips I have seen in Japan! Very tourist friendly! The last shrine was the most interesting, totally surrounded by large buildings it was accessible by a narrow lane from the main street (flanked by a Ninomiya statue I have blogged about before) and located in a little hidden away square. There are a few of these shrines in Tokyo and usually they are very much forgotten with almost nothing going on so I was surprised to be met by three gentlemen in white robes who offered visitors cups of sake (rice wine) and a good luck charm from the shrine in the form of a cell phone strap! They had a lot of them left so I think that there must have been very few visitors to this almost impossible to locate little shrine, but it was the best shrine experience of the evening! I think I got in bed just before dawn after traveling around Tokyo on foot and by subway. Too bad many foreign residents leave over the holidays!

Only in Japan – Hakutaka Sake

This is something you will probably never see in any other country than Japan. Three barrels of sake, Japanese rice wine, just left on the street as New Year’s decoration. This is the local depot of a very famous sake producer, the Hakutaka (White Falcon) brand from Osaka. Most business and homes leave some sort of decoration in front of the entrances for New Year’s and this Hakutaka depot is no different. Imagine if the producer of alcoholic drinks left their wares out over night like this in other countries. Another interesting find while walking around the streets of Kagurazaka and Iidabashi last weekend.

Braving the Cold – Nothing But Loincloths

The new year started perfectly when I went for a walk around Kagurazaka on January 1st. I wanted to visit Akagi Shrine (of which I have blogged a few times before) when I heard a lot of commotion nearby. Tokyo is very quiet in the days around new year as a lot of people leave the city to visit relatives around the country so it wasn’t difficult to pick up the noise on a still day like this. As I got closer I could see that a small festival was taking place on a shopping street although all the shops were closed. It was around noon and about 4 degrees celsius outside but a few of the participants were wearing nothing but loincloths! I know Japanese men are tough, if I tried something like this (walking around almost naked for a couple of hours in the Tokyo winter) I would probably die! I have never seen this kind of festival before so I must have been very lucky to stumble upon them like I did. The young woman riding the omikoshi actually fell off at one point but she was picked up before she could hurt herself and a younger man with a very nice mohikan hair styling took her place. This is why I try not to leave the city during the holidays, there’s always something going on!

Kagurazaka Beer – 神楽坂ビール

Tonight in Tokyo there’s a lunar eclipse, the total eclipse was maybe an hour ago but I have my really long lenses in another part of the city so I missed a good chance to blog about that! Instead I console myself with these two bottles of Kagurazaka Beer, named after one of my favorite areas in Tokyo, Kagurazaka (神楽坂). Well, when I say console myself I mean that I shoot them! They are actually very tasty as far as beers go, but not made in Tokyo, they are actually from Miyazaki in the far south of Japan. The label is really attractive, the one the left being a clear Pilsner style beer and the other one a darker “Bok-style” which me not being Belgian/German, can not possibly understand. Maybe someone can enlighten me to what that kind of beer is? I’ll give you a hint though: it is really good.

Recently a lot of local areas, cities and even neighborhoods like Kagurazaka are promoting themselves with locally tailored beer, but there’s still a while until we reach a micro-brewery boom like the one that has been going on for a long time in the US!