Number 20

Japan 20 (ni-ju)


I’d like to dedicate this chronicle to my grandmother, Dorothy Estelle Johnson Bean, who passed away on New Years Day. She had suffered for many years, so I am thankful that she is not suffering anymore. Grandma taught me many things, not the least of which was sewing which I still enjoy to this day. Whenever I sit down at my sewing machine, I can’t help but think of the old-fashioned knee machine she used to have and what she would think of what I use today. Grandma, I love you and I thank God for the gift you were in my life.

We rang in the New Year in rather a quiet way. Japanese television coverage for the evening leaves a lot to be desired. I think the only reason we stayed up at all was because there were a few people in the states we said we would call and let them know if everything went smoothly. At midnight, we finished praying the rosary and then made our phone calls to tell of the “great non-event”. Shortly afterwards we were asleep.

Dana had to be at work for the GMT rollover which was at 9am our time. At work, they basically stared at the clock, tested the equipment and had a traditional Japanese New Year breakfast. He said the food was great and I think he was home by 1pm. The girls and I just kicked back at home and relaxed. It was nice.

Sunday, we went to Tokyo. The emperor’s gardens are open only two days a year; his birthday on the 23rd of December for a few hours and January 2nd. Dana and I figured we wouldn’t have a chance to go again so we should do it.

It was rather fun to see the nationalistic side of the Japanese. There were probably several thousand people there at any one time. It was quite a walk in and then your bag was searched and you were frisked. You could see the Japanese equivalent to the Secret Service lining the entire walkway. We got to walk through the grounds and then into a courtyard where the royal family came out on to the balcony and waived as everyone else waived their Japanese flags the they were given on the way in. The crowd got a little pushy but I didn’t have much trouble seeing over anyone. Charlene thought it was a great time to take a nap, but Christina and Catherine said they enjoyed it.

From there, we thought that we would go to the Oriental Bazaar and do some shopping. It turned out that the bazaar was closed because of the New Year Holiday, but the streets were crowded with people and food concessions. People were shopping and making the walk up to the Meiji Shrine. By the time we got near the shrine we were all tired and getting a little cold, so we decided to check it out another time when it wasn’t so crowded. Apparently, visiting a shrine is a traditional New Years thing in Japan, but I don’t know much more about it than that. If I learn more, I will include it later.

Today was our first day back on our school schedule. I’d have to say things went pretty well, although there were moments when things didn’t go as planned. Charlene decided before lunch that she wanted a nap and I had that scheduled for after lunch. Of course, after lunch, she no longer wanted to go to sleep. Oh well!

This chronicle is going to be rather short, but the way I have things scheduled now, I have short blocks of time for writing more frequently rather than the long blocks I had been taking before. I’m not sure if at some point I will save a few days work and then send it out, or whether I’ll just write more frequently. We’ll see what time brings.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year. I am looking forward to hearing tales of how you rang in the New Year.

Blessings and prayers,
Marion