Goodbye 2024. Hello 2025. Happy New Year, Everyone! Sitting here at my garden table on the first Sunday of January 2025 feels no different from any other day, but I’m grateful for the upcoming year that stretches out before me, waiting for me to carve. Japan experienced a year filled with significant events, ranging from natural disasters to groundbreaking achievements and cultural milestones. The year started with the massive earthquake in the Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day marking the most disastrous start of a New Year. In this post, I will narrate an incident that left us with mixed feelings at the start of 2024! On 1st January 2024,…