MJ: In Perth, New Year's Eve means party time. It is important to most people, and the idea of not being awake at midnight is unthinkable to most people. I remember being a little kid at the yearly camping trips to Busselton and Ledge Point and being so upset that Mum and Dad thought I was too young to be awake for the New Year. The first time I stayed awake I was so proud of myself!!
In Japan, New Year is generally for family, and although young people do have parties, it isn't the guaranteed party town like Australia.
On Miyako Island (Miyako-jima) it is an even smaller event - Miyako is much closer to Taiwan than Japan, and the indigenous culture of Miyako has more similarities to Chinese culture and so the Miyako people do both, but celebrate on the same day as Chinese New Year as well.
Nico and I opted for a quiet New Year planning to be in Miyako - we weren't even sure if restaurants would be open during that time, but were pleasantly surprised to see that life continued as normal.
Our New Year celebrations started at Kuusu - an Asian bar restaurant that serves the best nasi goreng, and chicken dish ever! They even provided as 'service' a bowl of soba noodles that are always eaten on New Year's Eve.
At about 11pm, the owners of the guesthouse we were staying at took us to the Miyako Temple (Buddhist). In Japan after the opening of the New Year, temple bells are rung 108 times to eliminate the 108 human desires. Nico and I, after lining up with all the locals, were nuber 2 of the public groups to be able to ring the bell!
After receiving the weirdest coke I've ever had (warmed up, with lemon and ginger in it) we walked literally across the road to the Miyako Shrine (Shinto) to make our offering there. It amazes me that most Japanese people are able to go through life following rituals and traditions of two religions. I like it a lot.
The next morning we were greeted by a version of the traditional New Year's meal for breakfast - Nico and I both struggled to eat some of the foods, but we managed with our strong coffee and the promise of one last snorkel before we caught our plane home.
We FINALLY managed to snorkel at our favourite snorkel beach - Yoshino. Due to strong winds it had been to wavy to swim before our last day but we got there. The only problem was we spent the next few hours picnicking at Painagama Beach so we had somewhere to dry our wetsuits before we caught the plane home!
In Japan, New Year is generally for family, and although young people do have parties, it isn't the guaranteed party town like Australia.
On Miyako Island (Miyako-jima) it is an even smaller event - Miyako is much closer to Taiwan than Japan, and the indigenous culture of Miyako has more similarities to Chinese culture and so the Miyako people do both, but celebrate on the same day as Chinese New Year as well.
Nico and I opted for a quiet New Year planning to be in Miyako - we weren't even sure if restaurants would be open during that time, but were pleasantly surprised to see that life continued as normal.
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| Soba noodles for New Year's (toshi koshi soba) |
At about 11pm, the owners of the guesthouse we were staying at took us to the Miyako Temple (Buddhist). In Japan after the opening of the New Year, temple bells are rung 108 times to eliminate the 108 human desires. Nico and I, after lining up with all the locals, were nuber 2 of the public groups to be able to ring the bell!
After receiving the weirdest coke I've ever had (warmed up, with lemon and ginger in it) we walked literally across the road to the Miyako Shrine (Shinto) to make our offering there. It amazes me that most Japanese people are able to go through life following rituals and traditions of two religions. I like it a lot.
The next morning we were greeted by a version of the traditional New Year's meal for breakfast - Nico and I both struggled to eat some of the foods, but we managed with our strong coffee and the promise of one last snorkel before we caught our plane home.
We FINALLY managed to snorkel at our favourite snorkel beach - Yoshino. Due to strong winds it had been to wavy to swim before our last day but we got there. The only problem was we spent the next few hours picnicking at Painagama Beach so we had somewhere to dry our wetsuits before we caught the plane home!
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| Drying wetsuits |
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