初詣 (Hatsumoude)

Yesterday Sho-chan and Rosie and I went to Hatsumoude (the first shrine visit of the year) at 2 different shrines; Nagata-Jinja in Kobe and Hachiman-Jinja in Sanda. We stayed over his parents house on New Year's Eve with Rosie and we all went to Nagata shrine together at midnight. It was pretty cold, but we had a good time and I got a candy apple. I always LOVE all of the little stalls that are set up around the shrine whenever there's a festival. Candy apples, okonomiyaki, baked potatos, corn-on-the-cob, fried squid, tai-yaki, goldfish-dip, and all the stalls selling multicolored Daruma. It's so festive and exciting you forget how chilly it is!

We took Rosie with us on our second shrine visit, and she was mostly well-behaved, but acted up a little on the way home. She sees other dogs and she just wants to play with them, but she can't. Anyway we had a good time at the second shrine and both Shoichi and I got Dai-kichi (Big Good Luck - the best fortune) for our New Year's fortunes. Yeah!

Goog Afternooner