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Last sunset of the year, on the bus en route to Tokyo from Narita.

Here in Tokyo, the year 2009 ended yesterday but back home in Los Angeles, there is still a whole day  to go before the calendar is changed.  I wrote a story in this week's  the Los Angeles Times Food Section about the practice of eating soba on New Year's eve to bring good luck and good fortune. If you missed it, you can catch it on-line.  There is also a wonderful story that features Akila Inouye of the Tsukiji Soba Academy and his evangelical mission to promote hand made soba. 

Just in time for New Year's Eve, Akila's couriered his hand made soba to my parents' house in Shibuya where I am staying.  It was so fresh and fragrant, we all took turns smelling the nutty aroma of the soba before we even cooked it.  The soba tasted delicious.  After the soba ritual, everyone went to the nearby Buddhist temple to listen to the Joya no kane - the 108 gongs which strikes at midnight.  Like eating Soba, listening to the gongs is another New Year's eve Japanese tradition. With every gong, you reflect on your wrongdoings of the passing year.  I was, however, too jet lagged to venture out into the cold night to do it. 

But I was happy I got to eat soba.

Happy New Year's Eve!