It's a new year

So I'm back in Japan, and I am told there's a strong likelihood of SNOW tomorrow. This is great.

Right now it's omiyage (souvenir) season with a vengeance. In Japan it's very common, when you've been on a trip, to buy souvenir gifts for your co-workers or friends back home. Also, it being the New Year, it's a prime season for giving gifts. Our staff room is overflowing with ice cream, various Japanese sweets, pudding cookies, my chocolates from Hahndorf, castella cakes, and so on... it is not a time for diets, so it's a good thing I'm not into New Year's resolutions.

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I think I've mentioned before that in Japanese stores and restaurants, when you hear an instrumental version of 'Auld Lang Syne', it's time to get out. Stores play this tune (in Japanese, 'Hotaru no hikari', or 'Light of the firefly') to tell you they're about to close. It continues playing until the last customer is gone.

Personally, while I think it's a delicate way to get your customers out on time without having to turn off the lights, I dislike it. Henceforth, the sweet and nostalgic air of 'Auld Lang Syne' shall be synonymous in my mind with 'get out! get out!'.

Pete thought it was pretty funny today when I revealed that we have a dedicated 'Hotaru no hikari' radio station at work. That's right, channel 80 plays nothing but the ponderous strains of 'Auld Lang Syne', on loop, forever and ever.

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I recently learned via this blog that in Japan, your first dream of the year foretokens the kind of year you will have. In particular, there are three lucky symbols - an eggplant, a hawk, and Mt Fuji. If one of these appears in your first dream, you're in for a lucky year.

I just find the randomness of those three items vastly amusing. I don't know who decided that an eggplant was a lucky object, but probably someone who really likes moussaka.