O-misoka(New Year's Eve)

New Year is the biggest holiday in Japan. When I was Michigan, I didn't miss Japan so much. But during new year's holiday last year, I missed Japan very very much. I had planned a trip during new year's holiday and had thought about what I wanted to do. All of things had been about Japan. So we decided to stay in Tokyo.

On o-misoka, we went to my favorite Japanese cafe in Ginza.

Kanten Azuki Shake(Agar-red bean paste)


Kishi-men(Thin-flat Udon)


Awa-zenzai(red bean soup with millet)


I was very satisfied...

Then we went to Marunouchi building to listen to symphony No.9(Beethoven). One of Danna-san's co-worker participated in the chorus. Although most of them were not professional, the performance was brilliant. It is tradition to listen symphony No.9 on new year's eve in Japan. Is it only here? or all over the world? Anyway, it was nice.

We went to a massage salon as I got cramps. The salon is my favorite. It is Taiwanese. They use a lot of steamed towels and massage oil. The end of the massage, they step onto you. This is strong massage and very effective.

As my cramps relieved because of massage, we went to a sushi restaurant. The restaurant was almost full and many of customers were foreigner, I guess they were tourists.

Night of new year's eve, Japanese eat Soba(Buckwheat noodles) to wish longevity and peace of a new year. But apparently we were not able to eat Soba this night... we went home and took a nap to be ready for the count down.

We went to an observatory in Roppongi Hills. There were an count down event from 11pm. I arrived there before 11pm but it was already full. We were not able to watch the live but we could get into the observatory. The view was splendid. We got drinks and got a space by the window. We had a good view of Tokyo Tower. 10 minutes before the midnight, the tower's illumination was changing.

Blue

Small white

Blue with 2008 +fireworks(at Tokyo Disney Land)

Blue, white and orange

Orange(normal color) with a beautiful moon

Happy New Year!