2 January: My father and I went out for a Chinese lunch at Marriott hotel in Nagoya. One of the seafood dim sum was in the shape of a goldfish! (Oh, I'm going to have to send this image to wife...) We then went shopping seperately. Department stores and most other shops were already open, and many of them had live music or other forms of entertainment in the lobby, etc. I bumped into a dancing lion - a Japanese tradition at New Year, except this one had a more South East Asian look.
As you see, there are two humans inside it, one at the front, the other at the back. "It" went into the crowd from time to time - I'd figured it's good luck to be "bitten" by the lion at the beginning of the year ("I've been eaten, so it's going to be a good year" "yes, lucky you!" etc.)
	And of course, this being Japan, everyone gets their digital cameras, mobiles with camera functions, or even SLR or video cameras out ;-)
5 January: A New Year's dinner in a local restaurant with my father's colleagues and acquaintances (all female :-) Tai, sea bream, is a "good luck" fish and often eaten at New Year, weddings and other celebrations. Here we had it as sashimi - "before" on the left, "after" on the right.
To Part Two