ippan sanga

despite a lot of things being closed in tokyo while we were there (the museums, the famed tsukiji fish market), i cannot regret going over the new year holiday. reason? in addition to the rituals of the first shrine visits, we also got to experience another very rare event. and the liklihood of me returning over the new year again is not super high. so i'm really thrilled that jos and i got to partake in ippan sanga.. i will explain.

ippan sanga is perhaps best described like this:

"Tokyo has danced all night long, the New Year is greeted with great passion. The Japanese have celebrated the last night of the year and are enjoying the charm of the fresh new day of the brand new year. The 1st date of the year bringing all the happiness to the people of Tokyo is followed by the first major festival of the year, the Ippan Sanga. Ippan Sanga is the day, when His highness, the Emperor of Japan and the Imperial Family meets the general public and exchange greetings and wishes. This even takes place in the grounds of the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo."

excerpt from here.

2 january is one of the only two days out of the year that the public is allowed to enter the grounds of the imperial palace and greet the royal family (the other being 23 december, the emperor's birthday). all we knew before going was that the gates opened at 9:00 and closed at 15:00. our kabuki expert told us we should arrive between 9:30 and 14:10, so, wanting to get an early start to "beat the crowds", we planned to arrive around 9:00. well, it seems like off of japan had the same idea. are you noticing the ever-present theme of crowds that seem to be so highly correlated with anything involving the new year? the lines were already down city streets. every time we've seen a long line, i thought it couldn't get any worse. well, it can. there were a few different entrances to the palace, so after a quick ATM raid, we found one and joined the masses, which i might add were highly organized. while entering, volunteers were handing out japanese paper flags. i initially wasn't going to take one, so as to not waste it, but after the experience it has become a great souvenir.

after a thorough security pat down and inspection (at least for me - jos whizzed right through. clearly i look like a terrorist.), we were corralled into giant sections that were allowed to enter the palace grounds in turn. surprisingly, we actually didn't wait as long as i thought we would, all things considered. eventually we shuffled along like cattle into the grounds which were quite lovely, though i had a hard time taking my eyes off the shear volume of people. i got a few flip videos of the walk - hoping to do some justice to what we were seeing. as we got closer to the actual palace, people began to hasten their pace and push and shove their way towards the front to get a better view. some of those japanese people are tiny, but they are mighty! we waited for a little while, then all of a sudden 1000s os flags rose into the air and started waving feverishly. the emperor was here! we joined in the flag waving, and despite being pushed in every which direction and nearly getting conked on the head on several occasions, it was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience.

back outside the imperial grounds, regrouped while sitting around a fountain and decided to head to ginza to see if we could get our kabuki tickets. on the way, strolled down chuo-dori, aka "5th avenue", with all the fancy shops i couldn't afford. or could, but choose not to =) went into the sony building for a bit and saw the most clear picture TVs i've ever seen. as well as a little robot speaker thing that danced to michael jackson. it even stayed on beat. found the famed kabuki-za. it was such an exquisite and historical building - i cannot believe that after april of this year it will no longer be in existence, succumbing to the ever present wrecking ball. plans are to rebuild it, but it will never be quite the same.

waited in line for about an hour before the box office opened to standing room only tickets. Y1100, not too shabby. headed up several flights of stairs to the top of the theatre. they said no pictures, and i listened, but it was beautiful inside. jos got the english translator, which she said helped. i opted out as just wanted to absorb the music, the costumes and the stage movements. didn't get a lot of the dialogue of course, but got the gist of the story. unfortunately i had to leave about halfway through. i could feel my blood pressure plummeting and thought i would faint. so went to the bathroom to splash water on my face and drink some fluids. then sat on a couch with my feet elevated. it helped. though it reminded me of when i was having similar blood pressure issues last summer, which reminded me of spending time with a certain person, which brought all the painful memories flooding back again. staying positive. staying positive..

managed to catch the end of the play, and by this time it was nearly 15:00 and we hadn't eaten yet. found our way into a mall that had restaurants in the basement level. meal wasn't great, as it consisted of raw egg atop undercooked chicken. ate what i could and moved on. we decided to head back to the asakusa area, where we were able to enter the senoji temple, the oldest in tokyo, and see the kaminarimon gate, its famous landmark. sensoji temple supposedly enshrines a golden image of kannon (known to the english speaking world as the goddess of mercy), and the incense smoke is said to bestow health on those who touch it. after being herded along with the crowds, managed to throw in my Y5 for luck, clapped and prayed and bowed, hoping that kannon would have some mercy on me this year.

from there headed to the edo-shitamachi tradition museum. got a bit lost along the way thanks to some contradicting maps and a shop girl who said "yes" to everything i asked. the museum itself was largely unimpressive, though did have some nice pieces of traditional arts and crafts and - most importantly - was free. it probably would have been better in the daytime, as per LP artisans demonstrate their various trades. headed back to the temple to browse the shops of nakamise. good thing i did as i found the short strand buddha beads i'd long been searching for. quick stop at the family mart again to pick up breakfast goods, and then it was back to the hostel for an early night. can't believe we only have one more day here.