My First Shrine

So on Wednesday, I visited my first shrine! It was in the city of Fukuroy (only about a 10 minute train ride from Kakegawa) It was so beautiful! The Temple was set up on a Mountain and it was a beautiful walk/hike lol! I added more pictures to the slideshow at the bottom right corner of my blog... I also added captions but I'm not sure if you can see them... (yes I'm still trying to figure this thing out... let me re-phrase, Eric is figuring it all out, I'm just along for the ride... hahaha) Anyways, It was really cool to visit my first shrine! Manager took me, so it was nice to have everything explained to me... now I know what to do and why you do it...

I will be going to Kyoto and Osaka for the New Year's break so I look forward to visiting a lot more shrines and fun stuff!!!

Japanese Culture Lesson:
So in Japan, New Year's and Christmas have an opposite function to the US... For example, On Christmas, most Japanese people go out with their boyfriend/girlfriend or have a party. It is traditional to eat "Christmas Cake" (looks like a birthday cake...) and I've heard from many of my students that you have to eat fried chicken... like KFC!!! lol!
Now New Year's is the family holiday! Families get together and the mothers make a big meal, which sometimes includes Ozoni (a type of Japanese soup), and most likely Mochi (a type of rice cake)! Different families have different recipes for Mochi but I have heard that a simple soy sauce with sugar glaze can be very nice. So far my favorite is Mochi with ancho (a sweetened red-bean paste - soo good!!!)The shrine we went to is famous for that kind of sweets..! Also families might go to a shrine or temple to make their New Year's prayers or wishes! I made mine for this year... stayed tuned to see if my wish comes true!!!

Okay class, I think that's enough for one day... see you next time!

all my love, and Merry Christmas!!!