The Year of the Tiger–Days Continue, Days Pass
I make it a rule to go back to my home country during the New Year's holiday. But I ended up staying in the US for the past two years. The reason is that we are still in the darkness of the pandemic. Sad.
There is no use crying or yelling, however, so I braced myself and switched my mindset at the end of this past year. The first two weeks of the new year have passed like a flash. If I went back to Japan as planned, I may have had to spend the whole two weeks in a government-selected quarantine hotel.
Well, in the US, there is neither toshikoshi soba (soba noodles eaten at the end of the year) nor joya no kane (the Buddhist tradition of ringing a bell 108 times at midnight on New Year's Eve). People aren’t trying to watch the first sunrise of the year. No osechi ryori (traditional Japanese New Year's cuisine). No kadomatsu (a New Year's decoration made with pine and bamboo).
These two New Year's experiences in the US made me think that nothing is “normal.” Nothing is certain. I think I need to understand situations with flexibility, saying, “I get it,” or “Is that your point? I see,” and to continue each day staying in balance with others.
Dynamic balance––a life seems to sustain its balance, but it’s actually moving. A human body consists of as many as 60 trillion cells, and the cells are completely renewed in a few years. This means that our bodies become completely different, though the appearance of a person remains the same, so people are still recognizable. But sometimes you might get together with someone you haven't seen in a long time and think, “Hmm, that person has changed a lot.” I believe this is an example of renewal. Humans are constantly being updated!
The end of one year and the beginning of a new year is the transition between two years. I feel that it’s more meaningful than just the changing of days and months, though nothing changes visibly. Time just “moves,” I guess.
As I mentioned in a newsletter from last year, eight million deities visit us at the beginning of the New Year in Japan. Those gods come at the first sunrise, which is called go-raiko, so Japanese people pray about the passing year with gratitude and a sense of purification, pray for a new life in the coming year, and then welcome the gods. A bunch of gods come on that day! There are so many deities in the world, and the way people perceive them depends on the country, religion, and customs. I became interested in Indian deities. I heard that there are 330 million gods in Hinduism. People in India don’t do anything special on New Year’s Day––that might be because people are always pious or because numerous gods are represented in everyday life. In Hindi, one word signifies both “yesterday” and “tomorrow”––it seems the concept of time there is different. I think this is an appropriate approach to living during this time of the pandemic.
By the way, this year is the Year of the Tiger according to the Eto, twelve zodiac signs introduced to Japan from China in the sixth century. The concept was developed by first dividing the sky into twelve sections, then applying kanji (Chinese characters) to each, allotting directions and time periods, and finally associating an animal with each section. The Year of the Tiger is characterized by a strong sense of justice, faith, and the ability to act.
Real tigers live alone and hide in the deep bush of tropical or northern forests. It is said that they hunt aggressively. In tigers' Asian habitat, however, more than 90% of the population has reportedly been lost within the past 100 years. Also, the natural environment inhabited by tigers is being further divided into small areas, and in many of these areas tigers are in danger of extinction. It is said there are currently 4,000 tigers left. I wonder if there will soon be a time when tigers will be invisible to us.
Days continue, days pass.
I do appreciate your support this year, too. Please continue to take good care of yourself.
Yuh Okano
