Last night we went to Kitano
Tenman-gu to celebrate the coming of the New Year. We were going to
watch the annual Red & White Song contest broadcasted on NHK every
year, but weren’t able to get our borrowed TV working, so we had to give
up on that idea. We watched a couple of movies online instead- Office
Space, Eastern Promises and Easy A. There were many stalls of food and
games set up outside of the temple, and though Nicky and I really wanted
to try and have a lot of fun while there, we were also both beginning
to feel sick, so didn’t want to exert ourselves too badly.
The temple was packed! Nicky and I
found a place to stand where we wouldn’t be completely suffocated before
the countdown, and after everyone counted down and cheered, everyone
offered a few coins in exchange for a prayer at the head of the temple,
then dispersed. We didn’t stay very long, unfortunately, due to our
mutual ick, so headed home afterwards.
Today, sadly, we weren’t feeling
anything close to better, but we had a date planned with Erin and her
mother, who was visiting from California. We were supposed to go to Kobe
to try their famous beef, but due to schedule restraints, we decided to
just go to a nice restaurant in Kyoto. We planned to go to Owari-ya, a
540-year-old soba store in Kyoto, but because of the New Year’s holiday,
it was closed, so we asked our taxi driver to recommend us something.
He took us to a lovely sushi restaurant where Erin’s mother treated us
to an amazing spread. It was so delicious! And that was our New Years!
Here’s hoping we get over our sickness soon~