Traveling Japan: New Year’s Festival at Yasaka Shrine

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If you watch a lot of anime, you may have noticed that festivals are a big deal in Japanese culture and story telling. Just like there’s usually a onsen hot spa episode, a beach episode, or a class field trip episode, the festival at the temple is also one of those staple episodes you find in a lot of anime. So having watched a lot of anime over my lifetime, I wanted to experience the temple festival.

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What better time than New Year’s Eve at Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine? If I had to summarize the whole festival in one word, it would have to be “food”.

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I tried to get things I usually wouldn’t eat, but I couldn’t help grabbing a corn on the cob and a stupid but delicious chocolate covered banana. Also, I couldn’t pass up the chance to have some of my favorite mochi in red bean soup.

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The little old obasan ladies that were manning that booth did the whole “Don’t you speak Japanese?” thing to me when I tried to buy some with minimal Japanese skills. I guess thanks to my good pronunciation, they were pretty much like “It’s zenzai. Don’t you know what zenzai is?” They didn’t say “Duh” but their faces said it. I forgot to start my conversation with “Do you speak English?” first, and that was the beginning of my downfall in that conversation. It did kind of remind me of a moment I had in Taiwan when I tried to ask what they had at a restaurant using my Taiwanese skills to hide my illiteracy at the time, and the guy was like “Can’t you read the signs behind me?” No I can’t. I’m American.

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Of course, I didn’t stick only to things I can have every day in the Los Angeles, and I picked up some big yam fries and seriously fresh squid on a stick.

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The most legit thing I ate that night was this concoction of animal parts, starch items, and whatever else is in it. The vendors could tell I was a little wary of the contents as I watched the prepare a big vat of it from scratch, but I’m sure they could also see that I was game to try.

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They tried their best to explain it to me, and I tried my best to understand. But mostly, I didn’t know what was in it, but bought a bowl and scarfed it down. It was actually really good, but would have been even better with a bowl of steamy hot rice, mainly because it was pretty flavorful and my palate has gotten really light the last few years.

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Next up, Toei Kyoto Studio Park.

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