Christmas and New Years

This year, I did not travel anywhere during the holidays, so I can tell you my post for Winter Vacation will not be nearly as exciting as last year. However, I can say that I was not bored thanks to my good friends always willing to have great parties!

As you know, most Japanese people do not celebrate Christmas, so Christmas day is not a national holiday... most people go to work and school as they normally would. However, since the Emperor's birthday is very close to Christmas (the 23rd) the week for Christmas did happen to have Monday off. Because of this reason, my friends and I planned to have our Christmas Party that three-day weekend.

So when it comes to parties, it's all about the food! Despite there being seven people, we prepared far too much food! One of my friends even prepared a whole chicken, which is pretty rare in Japan.

This was also a party-party, so along side building a gingerbread house, we also played some non-traditional games like Jenga and bowling! It seemed a little unconventional, but it was a great party. Also, this was the first time to make a gingerbread house for the people here... luckily since there were so many engineering majors available, I think we did okay!

Besides a Christmas party there was also a New Years party for my laboratory and the Yamahon Challenge. Thanks to my brilliant lab members (and their weak toleration to alcohol) these are always a lot of fun to attend. Most people really are able to relax during these, and I almost always learn something new about the people I work with.

First off, the most infamous and properly named Yamahon Challenge. This is usually a celebration for seniors who are graduating, so normally we will wait until the senior has submitted their thesis before we have this party.   So, in case you do not remember from my post last year, the Yamahon challenge is where each project team in my lab try to see how many plates of sushi they can eat. The winning team wins the title of having beat the 'Yamahon Challenge'. This challenge was named after a senior who graduated, who at one time, could eat close to 30 plates of kaiten sushi or Conveyor belt sushi. That's roughly 60 pieces in one sitting.... yes the Japanese can eat that much!

Just to show you what I mean, here is this year's Yamahon Challenge photos at the beginning:

And at the very end... notice a change of expression on everyone's face? I think it was a little painful for some people:

As usual, the winner were the muscle-cell project team. It only seemed fitting since this year one of the members of that group is graduating. However, you would think that after such a wild party that my lab members would be tired... you would be wrong. Just the very next week we had our 'bonenkai' or forget the year party.

While I am not sure whether some of the lab members truly forgot the year, I am pretty sure some of them forgot what they did that night. I am grateful there are no angry drunks in my laboratory, but there are a few who tell everyone else that they love them.

 This was such a wonderful time! I have been really fortunate to join a laboratory that not only works hard, but plays hard as well. 2013 was a great year for me, and I hope 2014 will be just as great if not better!


Afterwards I am afraid not much happened to me. I have been working on experiments, and doing preparation for a scholarship. Just like in the United States, everyone always is busy again right after the holidays are over, so I am no exception.  Perhaps once it is spring, I will have some more interesting photos and anecdotes to post.

Happy New Years, everyone!

Kyudaisai 2013 and Christmas Lights

This year, the student festival weekend 'Kyudaisai' was particularly lucky to have good autumn weather. The previous year it had been much colder and raining, so this year I was able to enjoy it much more than before. However, I think because of this fortunate good weather, the turn-out was particularly overwhelming! It is because of this reason I have so little photos of the events, because I had almost no time to stop and take photos because there was also a line of people behind me or in front of me.

Kyudaisai is mostly student-run tents selling food, goods, or games to help raise money for their various clubs or activities, or just to raise awareness of their organization. Needless to say, all I mostly did both Saturday and Sunday was eat festival food. This year I also went to the student run maid-cafe which was interesting to say the least. I honestly think it was meant more for men to go to, but the cake and coffee there was quite tasty, so I cannot complain.

There was also a various number of performances including singers, dancers, acrobats, and even comedians. I think the comedy was lost on me (I cannot understand that kind of Japanese), but each culture has a unique flavor to their comedians and what they find funny. Many of my friends who are not Japanese say that even though they understand what is being said, in their cultural context, it's not considered funny. I wonder if the same is true for Japanese people watching American comedy movies.

This weekend I also had experiments, unfortunately, so I didn't get to do as much as I wanted. Maybe next year I will be able to enjoy it more... however, experience tells me I will probably be busy next year too. But, in the end, I had fun.

The following weekend after Kyudaisai, I was invited to attend a Christmas music concert in Tenjin with one of my  good friends. Her husband is a skilled piano player, so he was taking part in the concert this year. The concert was only an hour or so long, so afterwards we walked around the downtown Tenjin area to look at the illuminations. Unlike in the USA where people wait until after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas lights, Japan's Christmas-season extends from right after Halloween up until the end of December. Therefore, all the big stores in Tenjin already had all their fancy decorations up.

They were very beautiful, and we managed to get many photos this year since it was not raining, hooray! Maybe the most famous out of the Christmas light areas, or 'illumination' areas is known as Tenjin Hikari Square... literally Tenjin 'Light' Square. They always come up with new decorations every year. This year they had a whole lot of disco balls.... I have no idea what that has to do with Christmas, but they were very beautiful at night.

After seeing the Illuminations, we returned home quite tired from walking around so much. Maybe in the following weeks, I have many parties to look forward to. I hope to post more soon!

P.S. I finally finished a blanket I started when I first came to Japan. 1-year in the making.