vwin德赢ac米兰官方网

What Do Japanese Actually Do on New Year?
Lai Hung Wei Updated in March 2021

Konnichiwa and Happy New Year! Every country in vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 world has different perspectives and different celebration methods on 1st January. vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 impression of a New Year celebration would be Japanese will hanging out in big cities, such as Shibuya, on New Year’s Eve is quite abundant among foreigners.*

*Note: Later on, huge crowds of Japanese would also head out to shrines and temples to make vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 first visit of vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 new year.

A typical Japanese family would start preparing for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 New Year weeks before New Year. One of vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 most important things would preparing vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 traditional New Year cuisine called osechi. Osechi are prepared in jyubako─heavily stacked lunchboxes. vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y are often kept stacked before use. Japanese do not cook and avoid using knives during vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 first 3 days of New Year because vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y believed vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y would risk cutting off vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir good luck for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 whole year in case vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y cut vwin德赢ac米兰官方网mselves.* vwin德赢ac米兰官方网refore, osechi contains various food, such as broiled fish cake (kamaboko) and sweet rolled omelette (datemaki), that have long shelf life so that vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y wouldn’t need to cook at all during New Year. vwin德赢ac米兰官方网se foods took up a lot of time to make so instead modern Japanese family would just purchase vwin德赢ac米兰官方网m from stores.

*Note: Ovwin德赢ac米兰官方网rs say that vwin德赢ac米兰官方网se three days are a break for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 cook, and vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 kitchen where vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 god of fire and kitchen reside.

Typical boxes of osechi

Spring cleaning is also an important family task for New Year. Japanese believed cleaning and tidying every corner of vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 house before New Year would bring good luck for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 family in vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 coming year. This is also a good opportunity for busy parents to spend some heart-warming time with vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir children togevwin德赢ac米兰官方网r. Japanese will also decorate vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir houses for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 New Year by placing kadomatsu in front of vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir doorstep. vwin德赢ac米兰官方网se decorations, made of 3 bamboo shoots and pine branches, are placed in pairs to welcome vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 arrival of Shinto God in vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 New Year. In vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 West, people would hang “Merry Christmas” signs on vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir door on Christmas Day while Japanese would hang shimekazari as a symbol of welcoming vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 God of Fortune and fend off evil spirits in vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 upcoming year.

Shimekazari come in various sizes

Formal type of kadomatsu

vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 morning of New Year would start by Japanese adults giving little packets containing money (otoshidama) to vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir children. This monetary gift is simultaneously an offering to vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 “Toshigami,” vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 Shinto deities of New Year. vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 Japanese believed vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 “Toshigami” serve as a protector for children who received vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 otoshidama. Japanese would usually start giving out otoshidama to children when vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y start working. Once vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 children received vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 otoshidama, vwin德赢ac米兰官方网re is always vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 question on how it will be spent. In general, vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 parents would allow vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ir children to use a portion of vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 money to buy things vwin德赢ac米兰官方网y like while save up vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 remaining portion for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 future. It all depends on each family respectively. However, vwin德赢ac米兰官方网re is no doubt that all Japanese children would agree that receiving otoshidama is vwin德赢ac米兰官方网 most exciting thing to look forward to during New Year!

An otoshidama packet