あけおめ！ことよろ！

Tuesday, January 1
I had planned on cooking ozoni, buuut . . . mpldkfjaldskfj. We train-ed into Sannomiya in the morning. Nat went shopping, and Chris and I went to 生田神社 (Ikuta Shrine), where we made our start-of-the-year wishes and purchased a lucky arrow, around which was tied a card with a rat illustration. The shrine was busy, festival-style, with food stalls lining the street. I ate a tamasen (see Kishiwada post) and drooled egg yolk on my scarf.

For the rest of the day, we did major shopping damage. Japanese retail season is most wonderful at the beginning of the year, in my opinion. Stores offer 福袋 (fukubukuro, literally "fortune bag"), large packages that include an assortment of the retailer's items at a hugely discounted price. In most cases, you can't open the package until you've purchased it, and you take a gamble to get something good. All the same, the mystery is part of the fun, and I spent the remainder of my winter paycheck on participating. Hey, I'm participating in a cultural event!

Wednesday, January 2
On this day, we went into Osaka, where we took a peek at the Sky Building. And we ate delicious Chinese food.

Thursday, January 3
And today I visited Himeji Castle for perhaps the fourth time. It's still beautiful though. And it's always nice when you're bringing someone. And it's our most famous site in Hyogo Prefecture!

Full of castle sights, we returned to Miki for lunch at Ru Café, which Nat instantly loved. We picked up ample sweets. Later in the afternoon, we went to Blue Dolphin for some karaoke. It's odd, since karaoke is generally a nighttime activity, but singing is great any time.

Dinner was Sukiya and then a touring of the usual uninteresting stores that Chris and I frequent in Miki.

Friday, January 4
I returned to work, but the boys remained on vacation. We met up for lunch and ate at Osteria Dell ‘Arancio.

In the afternoon, I went to tea club, where we had a special day. Sensei presented the third year student with her papers. We ate a weird mochi with gobo inside. I didn’t like it much. Sensei said it’s an ozoni substitute. Last year we had a really fancy spread since there were fewer of us.

Saturday, January 5
Umm, we stayed in and went to Ono Saty in the evening.

Sunday, January 6
Chris treated me this time by taking us to Marine Pia Kobe, where we checked out the outlet mall! We ate at Gaylord Indian Restaurant, which was delish, then wandered around the shops. I realized shortly thereafter that I had no money to buy anything. It was a depressing outlet experience.

We returned to Miki and had Nat's final dinner at Ru Café, as requested, and he stocked up on more sweets from their tantalizing shelves. That night, he and Chris drove up to Tamba, and I was alone. 寂しい！

January 7 - 9
Work. Nothing to report.