New Year's Eve

On December 31st, I woke up and went for a bicycle ride along Mukogawa River.
It was a cold and brisk morning. Then, I stopped at the Spa (Kumano-Yu) I always go to, soaked in the outside tub, and went in the dry sauna and the salt sauna, sweat a lot and then jumped in the really cold water to refresh, and totally relaxed. Then I headed back to my place and had a nice lunch with my folks.

We took it easy all afternoon and then around 6pm began cocktail hour, and got ready to go out. It was freezing outside, so we all bundled up, and around 8pm we walked to the station-about a 20 minute walk-and took the train into the city.
The train was empty...Once we arrived at Kita-Shinchi station, we went above ground. The streets were also dead...

Next, we walked about 5 minutes to my favorite sushi shop, Ichiba-Zushi, and met my friend Mr. A. There were quite a few people in the sushi joint, and the four of us talked and ate and drank for about 2 hours, and then walked across the street to an Irish Bar where we rang in the New Year. There was a live band and the bar was packed.

By chance, we ran into my buddy Mike. (Look below at his photo.)
Mike is a professor in the day time and a rock star at night.
He is also from Philly, so we have a lot in common.

About 20 minutes after the clock hit midnight and signaled the beginning of 2011, my parents and I hailed a taxi and were home before we knew it. I slept the whole taxi ride home. It was a fun night!!

On January 1st, I woke up at 7am and headed right back to the spa for my first bath of 2011. It was a beautiful morning...

My father, Ed, and Mike

My mother and yours truly