Its new years eve! I love the whole traditon of a long boozy party, with the countdown to New Years, followed by sloppy kisses with whatever willing member of the opposite sex you can find……( Unless the wife or girlfriend is there….in which case you have to give her the obligatory, first..). S.O. hates countdown parties. So in about an hour I will venture forth to my favorite little bar to count down to new years and she will watch the “Red and White” show, a huge NHK entertainment extravaganza lasting 4+ hours and is a competition between the Red and White teams. (Personally , I think its fixed..). Maybe later when I come home at 11:45 to watch the TV coverage of the shrines, we will share a glass or 4 of this:
The great thing about living in Japan is that you can tie one on, go to bed and still wake up in plenty of time to eat lunch and watch the ball drop at 2 PM in Times Square. Hopefully for all of you, some of those new hours of the new year will be spent intertwined with one ( or more) of these:
