Hello, I'm Jazel. I'm on most social media platforms as @JazelTWY. I have had this space since 2008, and I see it as a outlet for my thoughts, when short status updates or instagram captions won't cut it. It's a public private space, of sorts. Comments?



Happy new year everybody!

The first day of 2016!
I went to "Hatsumōde"!! :D (I'm really not sure how do I use the word in a sentence :|)

Koji sensei came to drive us back to the dorm.

He asked us if we have been to a shrine during our winter break, and when we said no, he asked if we wanted to go the one near the dorm!
It is a big shrine, and a famous one!!
YS and I mentioned going to a shrine during the new year, but it was just a "we'll see" and not a definite plan, so I thought it was really sweet that we got to go, and on the first day of the year!!

He parked at the temporary carpark at the foot of the hill the shrine was on, and then we climbed uphill to the shrine.
There were a lot of cars waiting in line to drive up to the shrine (where there was a carpark).
I really dread exercise so, WOW, TIRING.
I kept chanting "shrine shrine shrine shrine on the first day of the new year" to keep myself going.










We also got omamori and hamaya (as pictured above!)

Omamori: Omamori (御守) are Japanese amulets commonly sold at religious sites, and are said to provide various forms of luck or protection.

Hamaya: "demon-breaking arrow," a decorative arrow sold at shrines at New Year's to ward off misfortune and to attract good luck. Hamaya are popular among New Year's visitors to shrines as one type of good-luck charm

It was really an eye-opening experience.
Everybody was holding a hamaya!

It's custom to return your hamaya of the previous year back to the shrine, so they can dispose of it properly, and you purchase a hamaya for the new year.

I bought 6 omamori. There were a lot of people, and I just took omamori without properly reading what were they for (which was super wrong of me).

I took those really obviously glaring ones, studies, wealth.
I took 3 initially without much thought of who were they for, and then at the last moment I just took 3 more, 1 of which I read and chose, 2 I just took a quick glance at it and bought.
I feel bad for doing that because I feel like I'm disrespecting the culture and scarcity of it (choosing the amulets without knowing what exactly there are for?)
I was panicking cause people were in the line and the staff was just waiting for me and I just took the amulets.. :|

So I bought 1 Hamaya, and 6 Omamori.

Koji sensei drove us back to the dorm.

Walked to Across with YS, and the entire mall was closed for the new year!!!
We then went to 7-11 to buy lunch + dinner.
Onigiri onigiri onigiri.
Bought this lemon tea too, cute, got tsum tsum printed outside of the bottle!


Back at the dorm........
I looked at the omamori I bought, and.. 1 of them. was for safe (child) delivery.
Yep, serve me right for not reading things properly.
I saw the word 安 and my mind just started thinking “平安” straight away :|

I was lacking of 1 now, so I made up my mind, to go back to the shrine.
I really believe that it's good luck to get it, especially on the first day of the year, and it just isn't right if I don't have one for everybody in my family.

Checked google maps for the directions, and it came up to 1h20mins......
I was legit considering if it was worth it, and was just like, you know what? it's the first day of the year. I want everybody to be blessed.

So I was ready to go, but 1h walk just seems really odd because the car ride was literally a drive upslope.
I decided to check again, and yep of course I checked the wrong shrine.
The one we went was 25 mins away~

I set off, turns out it was a downslope from the dorm to the foot, and then up the hill to the shrine!
It was considerably a short walk :)

It was really crowded!
A lot more people as compared to in the morning 10am-ish when I came.
There was a queue to get into the shrine, and then a queue for the offering hall (the queue was really close to the entrance, which means it's super long!!!)
Was alone, so I had more time to look around the shrine!

I queued for a while, because I got the amulets at the place next to the offering hall, and I wasn't sure if I could just go there straight away.
Then I realized that they were selling it at the entrance too, so there was no need for me to queue.

I then went to hang an Ema (絵馬),
You pay 500 yen, and then take an Ema for yourself.
I find it really interesting because there is no one there to make sure it is paid for,
But I believe since you're praying to the god, nobody will just take it without paying for it.






There were about 8-10 stalls outside the shrine selling toys and food!
Bought the squid ys and I were intrigued with, but weren't sure of the price before in the morning!
I observed the people, like how they will buy 2 and give 1000 yen note without getting anything back, and concluded it was 500 yen hahahaha!
Observation skills :D

Queued twice cause I didn't know how to tell the person to split it in two paper bags HAHA.
OMG IMAGINE MY PANIC????
I think the microwave has something against me.
:-)



Look at where I screwed up. May 2008June 2008July 2008August 2008September 2008October 2008November 2008December 2008January 2009February 2009March 2009April 2009May 2009June 2009July 2009August 2009September 2009October 2009November 2009December 2009January 2010February 2010March 2010April 2010May 2010July 2010August 2010September 2010October 2010November 2010December 2010January 2011March 2011April 2011June 2011July 2011August 2011October 2011November 2011December 2011January 2012February 2012April 2012May 2012June 2012July 2012August 2012September 2012October 2012November 2012December 2012January 2013February 2013March 2013April 2013May 2013June 2013July 2013August 2013September 2013October 2013November 2013December 2013January 2014February 2014March 2014April 2014May 2014June 2014July 2014August 2014September 2014October 2014November 2014January 2015February 2015April 2015May 2015June 2015July 2015August 2015September 2015October 2015November 2015December 2015January 2016February 2016April 2016May 2016July 2016August 2016November 2016March 2017April 2017September 2017October 2017November 2017December 2017May 2018November 2018December 2018April 2019June 2019March 2020July 2020November 2020January 2021June 2024 Layout by ▲ ADITHI.