Happy New Year from Tokyo!

Happy New Year! 

Tokyo Tower

So it's not January 1st in California or Texas yet, but it's morning on the first here. Last night we counted down to the new year at Zojo-ji Temple in Tokyo near the Tokyo Tower (Tokyo's homage to the Eiffel Tower) and later today we will journey by shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto.

Zojo-ji Temple, Tokyo

The temple was abuzz with people excited about 2012.  Hundreds and hundreds of people were standing jammed together.  They waited, talked, watched the fire, held onto their balloons (which were later let go for good luck), and looked at the Tokyo Tower.  We stood clumped together with a few Americans and a couple of British guys.  We were all waiting for the moment.  Every few minutes we heard the countdown from someone in the crowd, "Eight minutes left."  

The Tokyo Tower had been lit when we passed it on our way to the shrine, but the time neared midnight, and the lights were turned off.

And finally, the moment came. It was January 1st, 2012.

Zojo-ji Temple with Tokyo Tower in the background.

The Tokyo Tower lights flashed back on with the beginning of year.  Hundreds of people let go of their balloons.  

As 2012 began, the crowd thinned out and we were able to walk around.  We witnessed monks chanting and playing instruments, people throwing their old good luck charms in the fire and purchasing new ones, men in costume pounding dough with large mallets, and people ringing bells and banging gongs for good luck.

We made our way through the crowd of people leaving to go home and walked back to the hotel, stopping at a convenience store for a snack on the way.

That's how our year started, at a temple in Tokyo.

Here's to a fabulous start of 2012!