All is Bright, All is Calm - New Year's in Japan

A hush has fallen over this city of thirteen million people. Train stations typically bustling with shoppers all but echo with our footsteps. Store fronts are shuttered, businesses are closed.  Even the 7-11 has snuffed its flashing lights. It is the New Year in Tokyo, and it is quiet. This is an important time of year for families, and many have left the city to be with their relatives.


Newly freed from the shackles of illness (Patrick was the last to fall the day after Christmas), we set out to make our own New Year's memories and were rewarded with a tryptic of fun I won't soon forget. 

New Year's Eve: A return to Tokyo Tower. Who doesn't want to be climbing the outside steps to the observation deck on the last day of December? Chilly but beautifully clear and sunny, it was the perfect day to be scuttling up the 600 steps to our destination. The kids were so proud of themselves, and who doesn't deserve ice cream after an achievement such as that?

New Year's Day: I will not lie and tell you that we were strategically aloft in high elevations to experience the first sunrise of the year as is customary to do. We did, however, take note of the gorgeous light streaming through our windows to awaken us and were thrilled to see 2014 welcomed in such sparkling splendor. Hearts full of thanksgiving and hope, we set out for Mass to start the New Year.

We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of the Roppongi Hills area, and though we try to limit visits to expat crutches such as the Grand Hyatt, we happily enjoyed a beautiful and leisurely afternoon brunch there.  (Shhhh...don't tell anyone, but how I do love an expat crutch on a major holiday!)

Somehow that leisurely brunch inexplicably turned our afternoon into evening faster than Chris could say Another Bombay Sapphire, o kudasai. Not yet ready to return home, we turned instead toward Mori Tower, where Patrick's insistence at finding 'the place on the map with the helicopter pad' proved a magical cap to our day.

'The place on the map with the helicopter pad'

January 2: Rise and shine! It's time to meet the Emperor! To the Imperial Palace we did go, along with about a jillion other well-wishers. (Don't ask me where they came from - we thought everyone had left!) Typically we are not 'crowd' people - you'll never find us camping on the 4th of July - but the palace grounds are open just two days of the year, and we didn't want to miss our New Year's greetings from the Emperor.

 I'm certain he was looking right at me. ;-)

Eventually, people will return and this hush will give way to the usual industrious hum of the city. Train stations will bustle again. Shutters will come down and businesses will open. 7-11 will flash its lights again, but in the meantime, we have enjoyed a very different and very special Tokyo.

Akemashite omedetōgozaimasu!

Happy New Year!