New Year's Day 2012

This morning I traveled to Kichijoji to go to church.  There is a fellowship there  that has a Japanese congregation and an English speaking congregation.  This morning they had a well-done bilingual service combining everyone into one service.  Everything was said, sung or read in both languages.  We sang, we read from Isaiah, there was a message for the children. the pastor preached from Colossians and we celebrated communion. It was great. I enjoyed myself. 

The trip involved two trains - with an easy across the platform transfer - and took about 45 minutes. Today it was not in the least bit crowded.  The great majority of businesses are closed today and many tomorrow as well.  There are a few stores open like this one where a line of people waited, snaking all the way around the block. They must be known for bargains on New Year's day.

At a major intersection near the church was a shrine where another line of people waited to get their fortune and/or good luck charm for the new year. At the entrance there was also a stall selling takoyaki (a kind of golf ball sized dough ball with bits of octopus inside.)



Around another corner was a temple where a different set of activities were going on, and I had a chance to see something I had only heard about up to this time in Japan.  People sometimes mention being sent out to play on New Year's Day when they were children and what the often played was a game using battledores.  From just verbal descriptions I gathered it was something  using sort of paddle shaped wooden bats to hit an object back and forth between two people.

Today, in this space in front of the temple there were people playing just such a game!  The other thing I had gathered about the battledores is that there is another holiday where the bats are decorated and there is a competition for the best. So, I went over to one couple who were playing and asked to see their battledores. Then I asked to take a picture of each.  The girl was also holding the flower with a bit of rubber fastened to the bottom.that they had been batting back and forth.

The trip back to Ichikawa was a bit more crowded, but not uncomfortably so. All of the shops in Shapo were closed. No temptation to spend any money at all!

When I started to write this blog entry I was reminded, as I'm sure many others here in Japan were, that life is tenuous, as we felt the edges of a rather strong earthquake occurring out in the ocean near the Izu Islands.