The Lobster Dance

I had a tiny pre-decorated tree at my old apartment out in the country, which was no doubt left behind by a predecessor who wanted the place to feel a little more like home during the Christmas season. I left it behind because, not only was I taking way more stuff than I thought I even owned, the tree just didn’t do anything for me. For me, the act of decorating a tree with ornaments that represent places I’ve been and people I’ve met, rather than simply having a tree, is what invoked warm fuzzy holiday feelings. In fact, as a secular/cultural participant, the tree symbolizes the feeling as if winter has arrived, as the trimming of the tree coincides with the solstice and often the first big snow.

This year we are tree-less. Every time we go to one of the home-goods stores we look at the trees and wreaths and wonder if it’s worth the 2000+ yen to get something cheap-looking. Every time, my husband and I decide we’d rather use the money for our trip to Osaka. However, over the weekend, our grocery store got its New Year’s decorations in stock. We usually get a shimenawa for the door, but we actually settled on a small kadomatsu (門松) for our tokonoma (床の間), the alcove Japanese homes traditionally have for seasonal decorations. We were surprised that this place has a tokonoma at all, since the building was built in the Heisei period. Even though we definitely don’t have a lot of decorations nice enough to use, the kadomatsu will do nicely this holiday season.

And no, I don’t think it’s actually supposed to go in the tokonoma, but new cultural participants bring new customs. At least we didn’t add any ornaments?

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice