Ringing in the New Year

This year we rang in the New Year at Universal City Walk. A tourist area filled with restaurants, and shops right outside the gates of Universal Studios here in Japan. 

We did a little shopping…

Ate Korean BBQ, deep fried style… 

(Guess which cup belongs to who?)

And some Desserts…

Listened to some live music.. 

And learned exactly what Japan thinks Texas looks like. 

Then we went home and watched the fire work show from our balcony. You see, we are used to NYE in Texas where the temperature is usually in the 50-60’s on a cold year. And here it was in the 20’s and snowed a little earlier that day. The picture below is the NYE celebration at Universal, where we had dinner and where we would have been if we could have braved through the cold. Instead, this picture was taken from our balcony. I think we ended up with a better view anyway! 

After experiencing New Year’s here in Japan, I saw many similarities to how we celebrate Christmas. Most families stay in together, and go to church to pray and reflect on the years past. On New Year’s Eve, New Year’s day, and the days following, many business are shut down and many people are off work. We were only able to find a traditional NYE celebration by going to an extremely touristy place. Many of the local businesses, grocery stores, and restaurants close to our apartment are still shut down for the holiday. Even the post office. Nathan and I tried to send some mail out earlier this week, but we cant. So if your on that list, sorry for the delay!

As most of my friends back home and wrapping up their vacations and heading back to work or school I hope everyone had a very safe and happy new year! Now its resolution time! Happy 2013!