I’m feeling very still

Happy New Year!
Three weeks have gone by since the last post! So much for trying to keep to a weekly schedule. Feels like I’m wheeling out the same excuses every time but I really have been busy with work. And of course the New Year celebration, which is nothing like the UK where people are partying, but more like Christmas where you spend time with the family.

On the 30th we were off to Nozomi’s uncle’s home (the one who has the orange farm). He’s the eldest on her dad’s side so everyone gathers at his place. The end of the year is when they make Japanese rice cakes. Most Japanese people eat them in the New year, but few still make them in the traditional way that Nozomi’s family does. People just buy them from shops or have little machines that make them. I’ve been to mochi-tsuki once before and was looking forward to it. Uncles, aunts, cousins all get together.

It’s a fairly simple process to make the mochi, but it is hard work. First of course you have to wash and cook the rice.

Once the rice is in the large wooden bowl the hard work starts. Two people use the “hammers” to grind the rice. You keep doing this for a while until there are no visible separate grains of rice. Then you start pounding the rice in turns. Those hammers are heavy! After a good few minutes of pounding the rice, it’s on to the last step. One person on the hammer, and one person turning the rice in the bowl to ensure it’s all mixed evenly.

Now you have wonderful, soft, sticky mochi. We keep some aside to be eaten that day since everyone has gathered for the mochi-tsuki. This is prepared in various ways - soy sauce and nori, grated daikon, red bean paste… The rest is laid out flat on trays to dry. The families all take some home with them to eat in the New Year.

Since New Year is a time for family, most people will head back to their hometown. In our case, Nozomi’s family tend to go away together to an onsen resort. This time we headed to a place in Yamanashi prefecture called Isawa onsen. There is also a tradition of eating soba noodles on the 31st. We decided to stop at a soba restaurant that Nozomi’s brother wanted to go to, on the way to the onsen. Of course there was a massive queue. We had to wait over an hour for a table which I would never really do. My father-in-law wasn’t too thrilled either but we waited anyway. I wish I could tell you it was the best soba I ever had, but it wasn’t.

Almost everyone has time off for New Year except for the people working in the hospitality sector. I can’t imagine they’re too thrilled about it, but don’t really get a choice. Nozomi’s sister works at a hotel but managed to get the day off. Her colleagues of course were quite envious of her - seems like it’s easier for the part-timers to get time off compared to the full-time employees.

Anyway, we got to the hotel which was of course busy and the people who had to work at the reception desks looked a bit stressed. Still, as the Japanese put it - shouganai (can’t be helped). We go to the rooms and chilled for a bit. Dinner was set to be for 7:00pm. It was just about getting to 6:30 and we decided there was just enough time for a quick dip in the onsen. Most people must have been at dinner already since the men’s bath was nearly deserted. There was just one other person and he left soon after I got there. The outdoor baths are really nice, especially in the winter. You sit there, soaking in the hot bath with the cold air around you. I had a wonderful view of the nearly full moon and was really enjoying the soak in my private bath. So much so that what I thought was only about 5 minutes turned out to be way more. When I finally got out and in to the changing room, the clock told me it was already 7:15. Oops! Rushed to the room and of course the others had all gone but Nozomi was waiting for me. I was feeling a bit sheepish when we got to the dinner table but of course Nozomi’s family are very chilled. They didn’t really mind and had started eating. We tucked in to some wonderful food, local wine and some good conversation.

The rest of the family all slept fairly soon, but we stayed up watching the TV for a bit. Traditionally people go to the shrine in the New Year, and a lot of people head out to be there at midnight. We didn’t go to the shrine, but could hear the bell being rung 108 times from a shrine that must have been fairly close by.

The next day there was again just enough time for another visit to the onsen before breakfast.

As we headed back home we got a nice view of Fuji-san, with the clouds making it look like it was smoking.

Well, heck that’s as far I got last week and now another week has gone by!

I managed to get a day off on the 3rd of Jan for the New Year family get-together. This is a proper let’s all sit down and stuff ourselves kind of meal. Uncles, aunts, children, grand-children. The families each bring along some thing to eat so that no one person has to bear the brunt. As usual this also happens at the oldest uncle’s house. That house is freezing! Oddly for a country that gets pretty cold in the winter there is no concept of central heating. People will have “air-cons” that work as heaters in the winter in the living room but that’s it. Anyway, stuffed ourselves silly again, drank some lovely shochu and then back home to rest and let it all digest.

At the weekend we had a plan to meet up with some of Nozomi’s university friends. One of them is married to a French guy and we had a booking at a galette place in Tokyo. I haven’t had too many galettes but this place was really good. And then to top off the meal we all had crepes for dessert. They sounded far too good to pass up.

Sunday saw us make our way to some shops to pick out a few things for the flat we will be moving too. Some of the things we were looking for weren’t available, so only ended up buying some curtains. Despite that I think we ended up spending a few hours out shopping!

The following Saturday was time to meet up with another group of friends - this time for a “nabe” party at their home. Nabe is a Japanese cooking vessel. You make a soup base, stick the vessel on a burner in the middle of the table and put various things in. Once they’re cooked, fish them out in to your bowl and enjoy! We just about managed to make the last train back home. So two hours later we were back home and ready to sleep. For the first time in ages we had a Sunday with nothing to do! So of course nothing is exactly what we did.

That was then, this is now. It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday today. So I’ve finished work and we’re about to head over for dinner with the family. I expect more being stuffed and drinking. There seems to be a theme to this post :-)