New Year Sunrise Worship in 2024 |

Ever since I was little, I’m not good at continuing to do the same thing for a long time, and I tend to stop what I’m doing and do something else in the middle.
My mother told me that I get bored quickly.
However, even if I stop midway through, I don’t wholly stop; instead, I restart again later, which is a somewhat troublesome trait that my mother did not understand.

As I get older, I restart and finish more and more things.
Having said that, there aren’t many things I’ve been able to continue doing for a long time, but something I am continuing…
I keep my treasurable items for a long time, like my first T-shirt that I bought when I was 16 years old, my first cobalt blue single flower base that I purchased in Nagasaki 40 years ago,
Raising dogs and cats for over 40 years,
it’s been almost 39 years since I stopped drinking alcohol,
I have been with Eric for 33 years,
31 years since I started macrobiotics,
it’s been 30 years since I started going to see the New Year sunrise, and it will be nine years since I started writing my blogs.
That’s all I can think of right now.

New Year’s Sunrise is something spiritually connected to me.
The weather forecast said it would be cloudy this year, and I wasn’t sure if there would be a New Year sunrise that I could see, so I didn’t have a strong desire to wake up at 5 am.
But I woke up at 5 am without hesitation, did a body scrub, and got ready.

Last year, our dog daughter, Lumi (a golden retriever who will turn 14 this January), couldn’t go to see the first sunrise because she could not walk much due to arthritis, but she was the opposite of me and had so much desire to see the New Year’s Sunrise and had been waiting since New Year’s Eve to go this year.
Looking at Lumi, I received hope and strength that I could go even if I didn’t have a strong desire to go.

We live in a world where many things are happening all over the world at this very moment.
The daily news reports, wars, sad, horrible things, and various crimes without our choice.
In the midst of all this, I was able to accept that it’s okay for me to be someone who can’t feel things more clearly. I focus on what is really important to me, so when my feelings are unclear, I accept them as they are and observe them mindfully.

It was cloudy, but it wasn’t raining.
When we arrived at the mountain, Eric parked his car and started walking in the dark trail with a flashlight. I could clearly see the Santa Monica early morning city lights.

Lumi’s arthritis was getting better, but since she was walking at a slow pace, it took quite some time to reach the top.

This year, in addition to Lumi, Lumi’s daughter Happy, our dog son Kai, and Kai’s son Lani are also with us. Also, Angel, who helps me with my garden, and his friend Emmy, who works at an organic farm, joined us.
When we reached the top, we could already see New Year’s sunrise reflections with blight red-orange on the back of the mountain. We got so excited.

There were large clouds, but the break in the clouds was right where we could see the first sunrise on the mountain, and we were all convinced that we could see New Year’s Sunrise.

Every year, people like us come to see the first sunrise of the year, and others have started to arrive little by little.
Then one of them came close to me and said to me, “You come here every year to see the sunrise, right?”
When I answered, “Yes,”.
She said, “I met you before here. You have a restaurant, right?” I said, “Oh, we met here before? I am sorry I do not remember. We closed the restaurant.”
She said, “That’s too bad.”
Immediately, I said, “I’m not disappointed at all. With the restaurant closed, we have more time and less stress, and I enjoy every day my time.”
The answer came back from her, “I understand. I also run a business, but I’m considering closing it.”
She continued, “I met you here once New Year’s Sunrise morning, and you sent me a photo of the New Year’s Sunrise. It’s my favorite photo, and I still use it as my screen saver. Thank you for sending it!”

When I was in college, I studied communication and photojournalism. I love taking photos and used to carry around Nikon and Canon cameras.
So I often got asked to send photos to various people, and I sent them. I didn’t remember the person, but she remembered that I had a big camera with me, and I was happy to know that someone out there valued the things I had almost forgotten.

New Year’s Sunrise rose elegantly.
Because of the clouds, it did not appear at the time of sunrise, 6:59 am, but the sharp beams appeared at 7:03 am, and she showed up between the clouds for us!

*New Year Sunrise Worshipped with deep feelings and prayed to the gods of the north, south, east, and west for a bountiful harvest, good health and peace in 2024.

*The custom of worshiping the New Year Sunrise is said to have become popular after the Meiji period (1868–1912).
But it was first called “Shihohai” and began when the Emperor woke up early in the morning on New Year’s Day, purified himself, and prayed to the gods of the east, west, south, and north for a good harvest and good health. It spread from the court nobles to the ordinary people around the Heian period　(710～1192).

The beams got stronger!

Then the beam got calm down.

The Down Town Los Angeles got all blight orange.

Going down the mountain, Lumi stopped so Eric carried Lumi at the steep hill. She said, “She was taking her time to going down, but she appreciate Eric papa’s love.”