New Year's Cleaning

I am currently making good on one New Year's Resolution....for the first time ever. Prior to yesterday, I really wasn't happy with the layout of my apartment. It is a cozy apartment--a hall/bathroom, a kitchen, and a bedroom, all in a long rectangle. The big room is 287 cm by 278 cm (random, eh?), which is plenty of room for one person and one person's stuff. The kitchen is about the same size, with no inborn shelving and sink/burner stand in the corner. I inherited a large cabinet, a fridge, a washer, and a vacuum, two shelves, a set of plastic drawers, and a bed, and the apartment came with a table and two chairs. Up until now, I supplemented the kitchen with a pantry on wheels, which was hugely helpful.

None of this was an issue. The issue was the bathroom.

In Japan, the Northeast corner of a building is tremendously unlucky. It's known as the Demon Gate, where evil spirits come in. Castles would have special watchtowers or even make a concave section there to avoid even having a Northeast corner. Obviously, you don't want a door there. It is apparently even more unlucky to have plumbing (a bathroom) there. Guess where my bathroom is. Yep. Dealing with it so far has been costly and endlessly frustrating. An awful smell came from the drain when it's hot and when it storms. I couldn't seem to clean the drain at all. Despite it being a hermetically sealed shower/bath/toilet unit, there was possibly mold. No hooks stayed on the wall, so I had to put shampoo anywhere I could. It. Was. Gross.


Note the past tense. Finally, in a home-improvement frenzy inspired by dreams of rearranging my bedroom to make it look like a 9x9 rather than a 6x3, I caved and bought a cute shower curtain. And drain tablets. And (expensive) textured surface suction cups. And shower racks. Then, while waiting for bookshelves and a laundry rack to be delivered, I hit the drain with every tablet and hair collector I had and cleaned the bathroom until I was the only life form left.

The change was magical. It sparkled! It was...visually appealing! It didn't smell like demons were indeed crawling up my northeast corner plumbing.

Inspired by this, and with the help of Erin, I have moved along to reorganizing the living room/ bedroom so that I could make the most of the natural light and maybe, possibly entertain friends for dinner or movies. We switched stuff around and I already feel more at home.

Pictures after shelves and such.

So, so much more like a home.

あけましておめでとう (Happy New Year)

New Year's is the biggest holiday in Japan. Erin and I decided to try our hand at some New Year's traditions. These included:

1. Not cooking on New Year's Eve. An awesome tradition, but one that makes the delica (deli) section of every grocery extremely crowded.

2. Eating Mochi and other Japanese sweets. Chewy!

3. Watching Kouhaku, the four hour long "song battle" between various Japanese bands after dinner on New Year's Eve. Full of enka and insane costumes.

4. Ringing a bell at a Buddhist Temple. As we were walking back from a friend's apartment where we watched Kouhaku, we heard bells all around us from the flock of temples on my street. The biggest one had red candles placed in the snow just inside its gates. One of the women working at the temple invited us in (in English!) and told us to try ringing the bell. Each temple will have its bells rung 108 times, once for each sin that Buddhists believe holds the spirit back from enlightenment. People in the neighborhood can ring the bell while the priests watch and count.

5. Visiting a Shinto Shrine at midnight. This is big thing. Many families will go to shrines at midnight to pray, use sacred smoke (usually by wafting it over a body part for healing or a possesion for safety), or buy charms. I saw several groups of young boys who were doing a shrine marathon through the snow--they were running all over Komatsu from shrine to shrine, getting the name of the shrine stamped on a white cloth. Erin and I were at Tenmangu, a shrine known for its charms that help students pass exams.

6. Giving thanks and buying good luck charms for the next year. On the recommendation of my vice principal, we visited another shrine later on New Year's Day. Oyama Jinja is in Kanazawa, and is one of most popular places to visit for New Year's the city. Even late in the day, it was full of people. Buying charms was a particular hassle, as there were no real lines; rather, old women just snuck in and elbowed everyone else aside.

7. New Year's Shopping. Most department stores have "Happy Bags," grab bags of goods at a really reduced price. This goes for small stores like Lush, and also for home goods stores--I saw one Happy Bag that contained a bicycle, a space heater, and an electric blanket. Stores are packed and the good bags go quickly.

More pictures here.