I’ve been watching New Year celebrations around the world on t.v. as I wait out the last five hours of 2010 in balmy Chicago. (Yes, that’s right; we reached 60 degrees Fahrenheit today.)
As I’m prone to do on major holidays, I like to think about where I spent the New Year in decades past.
I took this photo on January 1, 1991 outside my friends’ home in Yokohama. Mrs. Nakajima spent a couple hours dressing me in kimono. All the layers, all the pulling, all the wrapping–all to achieve a pre-pubescent figure. When it came time to slip on some tabi and step into a pair of zori, I was ready to go.
The Nakajimas’ eldest daughter, Miwa, also dressed in kimono that day. The two of us paraded around their Totsuka-ku neighborhood, posing for photos in small gardens.
I enjoyed the experience of wearing kimono, but boy was it time-consuming and a little restricting. Like the extra effort to do normal things like sit and breathe.
Wherever you are, I wish you a very happy and healthy 2011.
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