New Years in Japan lasts about 7-10 days, but the festivals are still in the air. My friend in Japan posted a nice picture of her walk in Asakusa, Tokyo. It’s probably one of the two largest and old shrines in Japan. The inside is a shrine, but on the outside, its Japanese tradition that after you make a wish, you go outside and eat finger foods. You can get like mentaiko (red bean soup with some mochi), dango (mochi on a stick with different sauce), Okonomiyaki, yaki-soba, taiyaki (fish filled with red-bean), takoyaki (my favorite), deep-friend spaghetti noodles (weird, but good), shaved ice, and many other stuff. What you see here is the doorway behind Asakusa where people are leaving and walking past those vendors for yummy food.

By the way, that huge red head is called Daruma. It’s sort of a spirit where you buy him, and both his eyes are white. You sorta decorate him and color one eye in when you have figured out what your goal is for the year. Then you fill in the other eye when you have completed the goal. It’s popular for kids and stuff. More recently there have been different colors, where Daruma is like dressed in white and specialized for entrance exams or good luck company interviews or many other things. Sort of neat eh?

Finally the other thing is that little white cat. Depending on which paw is up, it means different things. Don’t quote me but if the right paw is up, it means wishing money to come in. If it is the left paw, it means luck or something.