JVlog #1: Happy New Year!

Good Day Everyone,

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all had an amazing new year's eve and ended 2014 on a high note. It was rather strange waking up this morning on January 1st 2015, whilst most of my family and friends were still in 2014, waiting for the clock to strike 12... the joy of living in different time zones ;o)

I spent quite a bit of time Googling yesterday trying to find out what happens in Yokohama on new year's eve but failed to find anything in English. I then resorted to searching on YouTube and saw that for the past couple of years there has been a firework display at the giant ferris wheel in Cosmo World (an amusement park). Hubby and I wrapped up warm and headed out just before 10pm, but as it got closer to 11pm the amusement park was strangely a lot quieter than one would expect on new year's eve, plus we couldn't see any signs of a firework display.

Luckily the lady at the information desk spoke a little English and we discovered that the fireworks had been moved down to the Red Brick Warehouse this year. So we headed to that part of town and it was crazy! There were so many people there that there was no doubt about us being in the right place.

As we made our way to the waterfront we were surprised to see rows and rows of people sat calmly on the floor waiting for midnight. There was a jolly atmosphere and people didn't seem to mind squeezing along to make room for others. There was no big countdown from 10 to midnight. One second we were stood looking at our clocks and the next thing we knew some people started shouting "5, 4, 3" and the rest of us joined in.

I'll be honest, the fireworks were not blow your socks off kind of amazing. Unlike the ones back home in London, or the ones we've been lucky enough to see in Sydney and Singapore. Nonetheless is was nice to mark the occasion. Once the fireworks were over, people calmly started to make their way back into town. It was whilst walking back that we saw one of the lanes on the main road come to a complete standstill as groups of young men lined the street with the boots of their cars open, displaying all their amplifiers and music systems. Crowds had gathered around the back of cars to watch people dancing and strutting their stuff... their was even some twerking going on ;o)

What surprised me in particular was that not a single car driver beeped their horn at these guys blocking the road or the scores of people that started dancing and gathering around, literally in the middle of the road. It was quite a sight. The Cosmo World amusement park was still open with people celebrating the arrival of 2015 on the various rides and roller coaster.

 Hubby and I went out with our camera and captured a few short clips just so that we could share our first new year's eve in Japan with you all. I'll be honest the video does make me cringe a little as neither of us are comfortable in front of the camera (as you'll see) plus my editing isn't great. However, I'm determined to share this with you all, and hopefully some more short videos in the future. We get so many people asking us about Japan and what it's like to live here, that what better way to explain, than to show you :o)

Did you have a good new year's eve? How did you celebrate?

Love Sheen xxx