New Year's Greetings
from the Japans (cue shamisen, flute and bamboo strike)
Happy New Year, everyone!
Here in Japan, the tradition is to go down to the beach and watch, what else, the rising sun. Kenny and Lyndi, my older two kids, were going down with friends.
Dan-Are you guys going separately?
Kenny- Of course.
D- Why don’t you all join up after the sun comes up and have a konpa?
Kenny rolled his eyes and Lyndi laughed at that fatherly lunacy.
D- What?!
(A konpa コンパ is a small party or mixer for college-age kids here in Japan. You try to make sure there’s an equal number of boys and girls, and hope a nice matchup takes place [mind out of gutter, you- I said matchup not hookup]. I think a 4 on 4 is the perfect number- Joe Gregarious (Shota) and Suzy Charming (Hina) will do most of the talking and the shy ones can mostly listen but they can still participate and be heard by all. Later Awkward Daiki will express to Shota that he took a fancy to Wallflower Sakura and Shota will text Hina who will nudge Sakura and before you know it, church bells at the Osaka Okura hotel chapel.)
Kenny- There’s no way we’re doing a konpa.
D- Really? Why not?
Andy had walked in and blurted out what everyone including me knew, “Lyndi’s friends and Kenny’s weirdo friends? Sure, that’ll happen.”
Kenny was still out with his buddies when Lyndi got back from the beach. He and the goofs were probably gorging on a big breakfast at Denny’s. Lyndi showed me the picture she took. It was a fisherman looking straight south out to sea, not east down the beach toward the sun.
Dan- That guy probably goes down to the beach every morning. I see them all the time when I go surfing.
Lyndi- Yeah, he didn’t even look at the sunrise.
D- Just waiting for a bite.
L- He caught one while we were there. It was this big.
She measured out about 22” with her hands.
D- Nice!
Fisherman lands a big one just as the New Year’s sun come up: A good omen for ‘25!
Landing a fish at sunrise on Jan 1! That is good for the 2025 outlook.