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Julie had a problem we discovered shortly after arriving at Meiji. It
seems that this year is a "bad luck year" for folks born in Showa 45
(the 45th year of Emperor Hirohito's reign) or 1970. Don't worry; this
doesn't effect my brother Ross; this particular bad luck year is for the
girls. The boys fall under a different system. She explained that
people born in Showa 44 (1969) will have REALLY bad luck this year...so bad, in
fact, that remnants of the bad luck will bleed over the years surrounding it,
1968 and 1970. So her luck, while expected to be pretty bad, will be
nothing compared to the crappy deal those born in 1969 will have to deal with in
the new year. It's not that Julie is a Shintoist or Buddhist; she's just
really superstitious. Fortunately, all it took was a small charm purchased
at one of the local vending stands to cast out the bad luck demons and give her
a chance at a good year. |
| The sign foretold Julie's fate. |
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| After spending about two hours or so at the Meiji Shrine, we wound down the
morning at...you guessed it...Denny's! We each had a bowl of Udon, a
noodle-based broth, because eating noodles for good luck in the Japanese culture
is like our American tradition of eating black-eyed peas. |
Julie washes
her hands for purity before entering the shrine. |
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I was very disappointed by CNN's coverage of new year's celebrations around
the world. They didn't even mentioned Tokyo. I thought sure they
would have, but I guess being a city of 30 million people means nothing if Dick
Clark's not there... |
| It wouldn't be Japan if they
weren't selling something. |
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