there’s a japanese new years tradition called 初日の出/hatsuhinode, ‘first sunrise,’ which is when you drag yourself out of bed while it’s still dark on new year’s day and go out to a bridge or somewhere else you’ll have a good view of the horizon to the east.
and then you stand, and you wait.
if you’re me, today, you’re up on a bridge over a river coming off tokyo bay, and the cold ocean wind is vicious in the pre-dawn dim, and even with a good coat and gloves it feels like your nose and ears are slowly freezing off. the sky will get lighter by degrees as it gets closer and closer to sunrise, lines of color forming all along the horizon, and eventually you can pinpoint just where the sun will rise, a splotch of faintly brighter orange against the watercolors. you stare at it until your eyes start to blur.
and you stand, and you wait, and the bridge gets crowded around you, everybody leaning against the rail and looking for the sun and holding their breath, and even if you know to the minute when the sun is supposed to rise, it still feels like it takes longer than it should. in the dim january cold, it can feel like it’s taking a very, very long time.
and then the sun rises, and you realize that you’ve almost forgotten how bright it is.
happy new years, everybody. i hope it’s kind to all of you. あけましておめでとう!!
