Celebrating the New Year in Japan

I'm writing this newsletter from a tatami mat in an old house in Japan. Far from the big cities, we have a bamboo-forested mountain rising in back of the house and rice fields stretching in front. The folks here warn me not to walk up the mountain as I've done most of the past thirty years, due to the frequent encounters with monkeys and wild boar recently. Kitsune Statue Maybe the climate, maybe the food supply, but the critters have been coming down the mountain into town, ravaging the fruit trees and family gardens. I've contented myself with walking to some of the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples that dot the wooded groves around the village. There's a quaint and nearly forgotten old shrine to foxes on a nearby hillside that I visited this morning. Dusty and crumbling, I wonder if it's had callers since my last trip three years ago. This evening a fox came into the yard and called its eerie call in the darkness. Maybe they noticed my visit to their shrine.

After visiting the family, we headed out for a couple of days on the coast. Lighthouses, seafood, and spectacular sunsets. Siri is very good at navigating the twisty Japanese roads, but atrocious at pronouncing the city and street names. (It kept calling the city of Ise "eyes" instead of "ee-say" for instance.) There was much eye-rolling and chortling at the mangled names.

By the time you get this, I'll be on the flight back to the U.S. Here's wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year. Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!