New Year

The New Year break has gone by in the blink of an eye.

again.

Japanese used to have a way to celebrate the new year.  It was the most important time of the year. And the most important thing a person could do was... nothing.  Sit quietly, eat a little food that was already made so that no one would have to be working in the kitchen.  Maybe later, put on your new kimono, visit a friend, or the local shrine.  It was a supremely quiet time.  No one driving.  No one hurrying around.  No stores open, of course.

New Year was that "ma," that quiet time in the Japanese, type A, frenetic year.  A pause. A space.

I have been here.  I have watched Japan loose its quiet space, watched it disappear from the paintings, from the music, from the films, and from the New Year.

It's  like a punchline in a new haiku - "Where did nothing go?"