あけましておめでとうございます (Happy New Year!)

Well its here, another year starts the first to be recorded on here. What did I do? Well the somewhat traditional practice of going to the local shrine and praying for a good new year.

Arrived at about 11:15pm, hardly anyone there yet, the whole place is lit up but not much going on.......

As you can see though it gets popular, actually this was at 11:40pm and the line is already forming pretty fast... hmm better get in line.

By the time I'm leaving the line is going down the steps, under the entrance and...well down the road. These people are going to be waiting a while :-)

Getting my "New Year Fortune"........pay the modest sum of 100 yen and shake a small drum which has a large number of bamboo sticks inside, one will fall out and the number inscribed on it corresponds to a fortune.

My fortune, as you can see its all in Japanese, this one is classed as an "OK" fortune, meaning some good and some bad. (I'll try to put more info. later)