The Japanese New Year
What would you think is the most celebrated holiday in Japan? The Emperor's Birthday? The nation's foundation day? Groundhog Day?!? Nope -- it's Jan. 1st -- New Year's Day. And during the first few days of the new year you'll find EVERY SINGLE SHOP shut down tight. With Japan's economy heading straight down into the tarmac though, these days you see a few shops opening earlier trying to pull in more warm bodies. Are they succedding? Partly, yes. While in North America people spend Christams with their families and whoop it up New Year's, in Japan it's (just like for nearly everything else) exactly the opposite. TV is dull, dull, dull. Shops are closed. Videos rental shelves (for those that are open) are raped and empty. Streets are deserted. Until recently up to 10% of the whole population of Japan would celebrate the Japanese New Year by running like hell to the airport and getting out of the country. Millions still do though, since Japanese are given extremely few chances to go abroad in the year, the Japanese festivals are quiet and dull, and escaping the bitter cold of the season is a nice idea. For those that don't leave though, here are a few pics of what they do....