New Years: Day 1, First Sunrise of 2012 at Haneda benten Bash (i羽田 弁天橋)
I went to the home of my dear friend Sister Lourdes and join her with her friends to witness the first sunrise of 2012 at the shrine of Bentenbashi in Haneda, she lived right across the bridge where the shrine is at, there you could make a prayer or make a wish and to gather the energy of the sun to give you vigor, luck and good health throughout the year for that is what most of the people who came believed.
It was a cold morning, there were free food and drinks, then something caught my attention, its the bamboo cup, its simply is a bamboo trunk cut and used as a cup, I thought I could make it as a souvenir for that event and so my friend took a cup and brought it to me, but to my surprise there’s something in it, it was sake, I don’t really drink alcohol especially in the morning, so I thought I could just throw the sake away but another friend stopped me from doing so because she said that throwing it away is bad luck, I had no choice but to drink the sake, its was hard to drink but in the end I realized it was good because it warmed my body although I’m a bit drunk LOL!
It was a cloudy morning and the sunrise wasn’t that visible but as soon as the sun peeks out the clouds people cheered and it was a great feeling to be a part of it and to feel the warmth of the sun^^.
This was my second time to witness the sunrise of the new years, the first time was in Philippines right at Luneta Park on Manila Bay with relatives and close friends^^.