a very "not japanese" new year celebration

if celebrating oshogatsu was hit or miss, it was a definite miss.

i slept in after an eventful new year's eve and missed going to the shrine with my host family. i had planned to go to yasaka jinja [a famous kyoto shrine] on the first during the daytime, instead of the eve for the countdown. but my friend wasn't feeling well, so we rescheduled for the second. unfortunately, there was miscommunication on the second, and we didn't go. and on the third? i was going to venture out to arashiyama on my own. then i realized my budget wasn't lenient enough for me to spend money for bus/train transportation. so i stayed in and lost myself in thought instead [which was much more pleasant and rewarding than it sounds].

my host family isn't as traditional as many others, so the festivities at my house weren't a paradigm of the japanese new year celebration. on the night of the second, my host parents threw a large dinner party at the house. i met some pretty interesting characters that night ^_^ i'll just say this much: there was a japanese man wearing a costume wig who got stripped down to his speedo by former boy scouts during dinner.

so i didn't see much of kyoto during oshogatsu, and i didn't put in great effort on my part to "experience" new year's the japanese way.

...i don't regret it.
[i have my reasons.]

to make up for the several uneventful days, mia and i went to yasaka jinja. we each rang the bell and prayed for good luck and happiness in the upcoming year :)

....more about this later.