It's 2023! A whole new year. A blank slate. A fresh page. Let's start all over again...

But first let's backtrack slightly. To yesterday. During the day it was very quiet out on the streets of Fukuoka. Even our favourite cafe was shut, and we had to make do with coffee from the vending machine (hot, though, and really not bad) and mochi from Lawson, one of our favourite konbini:




In the evening, at about 10.30, we headed out to see what was happening in the city. Round the centre, there were lots of people, mostly queuing for, or on the way between, bars and restaurants.

This was the first evening we'd been out, so it was nice to see the illuminations:



No corporate celebrations seemed to be in the offing, so we turned to head back home. And just before midnight, we started to hear two or three temple bells in the vicinity, sounding out under the muted pop-pop of individual firework displays.

We tracked one (surprisingly difficult, actually, as sound is adept at hiding itself), and arrived at Myorakuji, a little Buddhist temple complex. We were the only people around, and the bell-ringer invited us up to sound the bell ourselves. How wonderful is that...? Such a beautiful sound, the vibrations humming in the air for a long time after each strike. Really made our evening.



After that, we went home to drink a toast of shochu, and tuck ourselves up for the shortened night.

I always think it's good if New Year's Day includes the things you want to feature in the rest of the year. Today included:

-- Walking in the sunshine...

-- Visting temples. These are particularly good walking objectives for the first day of the year, as they combine an aura of spirituality with a gentle reminder of mortality, and that superb Japanese aesthetic, which just makes things beautiful, apparently effortlessly.
















Anyway, what else?

-- Communicating with friends and family over the course of the day.

-- Drinking nice coffee. Rec Coffee was open again, and the barista personally brought the coffee and milk to our table, to show us how he did his signature design.



-- Enjoying another very pleasant Japanese wine (a light, fruity, French-style red this time, made from Muscat Bailey A grapes).


-- Improvising dinner. Just imagine -- the supermarket is CLOSED today and tomorrow... Horrors! Thank goodness for konbini, and for the supplies we'd already laid in... Cheese, ham, and edamame made a wine-friendly starter; and salad and a ready-to-microwave beef-and-rice dish were a perfectly acceptable main.

-- Organizing, organizing... Shuffling computer files, deleting a year's worth of emails, updating a subscription, downloading a new diary app... I actually like doing this beginning-of-year house-keeping. Makes me feel efficient.

Unfortunately, some not such good things intruded on our day. Banking problems -- AGAIN. Insurance problems -- AGAIN. I just hope all the positive vibes will neutralize the baleful influence of these perennial horrors.