I’m writing this a few days after the start of the new year, at the close of my winter vacation.
What with Omicron and heaps of snow, I played it pretty cool this year (again). I stayed close to home and enjoyed the local cuisine. I had all-you-can-eat yakiniku at a shop near my apartment. My co-workers and I called it a mini-bounenkai, even though it was only 3 of us.
Later, I went to the fancier (not, like, 5-star, but lunch for one can easily run you about $50) sushi restaurant and had a bunch of lovely fresh fish, including the winter specialty, 寒鰤(kanburi). The first kanji is the kanji for “cold,” which makes since with it being eaten around this time, and the second is for yellowtail. I believe it has to do with the life stage of the fish, or that they put on fat around this time to survive the cold waters of winter.
The first plate is the yellowtail I was talking about, next is crab, next is a miso soup with some kind of fish, and last is tuna. I recommend it, if Japan ever opens the borders again.
I also met a friend for Genghis Khan, which is basically yakiniku, but you’re only grilling mutton and vegetables. According to the wikipedia article, it was inspired by Chinese food, so I guess that’s where it got its name? Still weird. I had been wanting to try it for a while, so I was happy to get the invitation.
For New Year’s Eve, I went out to a little local concert and had beer and year-crossing noodles (toshikoshi soba). Afterwards, we braved the snow to do hatsumoude at Imizu Shrine. I was surprised how many people were out at 1:30am! Last year, it wasn’t crowded at all — but I guess that was a combination of it being COVID-19 Year 1 and having gone to a smaller shrine.
Pictured above are me inside the bar, a few snowy snaps from the shrine, my red omikuji (you may remember me talking about this fortune thing if you read my post about losing my apartment key — my fortune for this year was decent luck, but the outlook for finding lost items was abysmal, so I better be careful not to lose them in the first place), and me at the end of the night with atsukan (hot sake) in hand.
I also visited with a lot of friends who either came from other prefectures or are simply to busy to meet much when we’re not on holiday. Lots of cafes and shopping trips and a few video calls.
The rest of the holiday was spent writing letters (I bought enough stationery to write about 300 letters, so please find a way to get me your address if you want one — not in the comments, maybe an email or a direct message on FB or IG) and singing karaoke. I usually don’t go to the local karaoke place (manekineko) by myself, but I’ve been converted. It’s kind of nice to sing whatever song you want without worrying about the vibe or whether the song will be in too high a key. And I could practice speed-reading hiragana.
That’s me double-fisting a beer and a shot of whiskey at a Hawaiian-themed bar called HanoHano, then a street that looks magical with snow and fairy-lights, and finally me (earlier tonight!) in front of the New Years decoration at the mall.
It’s never easy to see the end of a vacation, but I’m looking forward to helping my students back on track with their English (and me getting back on track with my gym goals) starting tomorrow. Wish us luck.
Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous 2022!
Alisa & a Visa 