Saturday, January 01, 2011

[jules' pics] How to New Year Kamakura stylee

cold morning on Kamakura beach
1. Put on your carpet and head to the freezing beach where three ships may be seen sailing by.

New Year sunrise
2. Join the throng to look at the sun.

New Year surfers
3. Admire the watersportspeople. Are those Hello Kitty yachts?!

Excelsior
4. Head to the churches of mammon. This year St Arbucks and the one across the road, called Excelsior, were both open all day from midnight. I suppose exhaustion is a good enough excuse for forgetting to put the espresso shots into our lattes.

shibaraku omachi kudasai
5. At Hachimangu creep past the "redcoats" holding "walk slowly" signs and head towards the stairs. At the base of the stairs gather behind a rope waiting for the "Just Moment".

Hachimangu
6. When the rope is lifted, charge up the stairs to the shrine, where a bunny rabbit and a wooden arrow may be purchased.

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Posted By Blogger to jules' pics at 1/01/2011 04:35:00 AM

5 comments:

William M. Connolley said...

James appears to be the only person in the top picture not holding a camera. Perhaps there is a rule that only dwarves are allowed cameras?

Steve Bloom said...

He needed both hands free to fend off attempts to tie him down on the beach.

James Annan said...

My camera is actually around my neck, I was resting for a minute.

Hank Roberts said...

> rabbit
Ah!
http://www.jbox.com/search/all/rabbit

Steve said...

Lovely photos, as always. New Year is a very special time to be in Japan. The most "romantic" way to do it, though, is to visit a rural shrine in a snowy area in the early hours of the morning. (I did this with my Japanese wife some years ago.)

I very much appreciate this blog, by the way.