謹賀新年 Happy New Year to all!

あけましておめでとうございます! This year we stayed in Utsunomiya for New Years Eve.We had dinner at "Chanko" which is a chain of restaurants founded by the famous sumo wrestler Wakanohana. Great traditional Japanese menu of things that a sumo would eat on a daily basis to get big and fat, so of course we were right at home. Most of the businesses including bars and restaurants in Japan roll up the carpets for Oshōgatsu which is by far the largest and traditionally celebrated holiday of the year. After dinner we rang in the new year at a local pub and then went for a few hours of Karaoke. After finally becoming obviously out of our minds from alcohol consumption we even managed to stagger onto the dance floor at Birdland for a bit. All in all a fantastic evening/morning and no better way to bring in the new year with the traditional Jan 1headache. Everyone have a wonderful new year!
Lots of other December 2008 photos here!
Here's a link to Wakanohana's Chanko restaurant if you want to try some good traditional Japanese food. Reservations are a must.
http://www.chanko-waka.jp/store/utsunomiya/index.html