新年明けましておめでとうございます

平成21年始まりました。Happy new year!

Right now, all over Japan, people are crowding up to temples and shrines, throwing money and praying for the new year. Here, the weather is a combination of rain, snow, and thunder, and I'm staying home.

In this year's 紅白歌合戦, the white team won with about 2/3 of the vote. There was a nice medley of music from Studio Ghibli films near the beginning, with full orchestra and chorus conducted by Joe Hisaishi himself.

The Red-White Song Contest is an annual year-end tradition, broadcast on NHK for the past 59 years. It's about four hours long, and there's a break in the middle for a five minute news break. At 11:45, after the contest (and a chorus of 蛍の光, AKA Auld Lang Syne), NHK broadcasts live footage from shrines and temples around the country. Right now, they're showing a picture of some people on a snowy mountain, setting up torches in the shape of a word: 希. Ki, Hope.

Here's hoping that this year is better than the last. G'night, all.