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If you want to meet Japanese women, you need to understand Japanese women. And one of the fastest ways to understand Japanese women is to understand Japanese culture.
So today I would like to talk about the Japanese New Year culture. Next New Year’s you and your Japanese girlfriend might experience the Japanese New Year for the first time while skiing in Japan.
This article will be useful for you next year, when you may be celebrating the New Year with your Japanese girlfriend in Japan.
New Year is called お正月 Oshogatsu in Japan.
How to Celebrate the New Year in Japan
Year-end Cleaning – 大掃除 Osouji
In Japan, it is common for people to clean their homes at the end of the year.
Community, office and school clean-ups also take place. Even men and children who do not normally clean do end-of-year cleaning.
This is to sweep away the rubbish, dust and unnecessary things that have accumulated up to that point, and to welcome the new year with a clean slate, both physically and mentally.
Since I was a child, I was taught that the end of the year is the time for cleaning, and even now I have a habit of clearing away unnecessary things at the end of the year.
Mariko Kondo’s (KonMari) and her Method, which has become world-famous, is perhaps representative of the Japanese love of cleanliness and tidiness.
New Year’s Eve Soba Noodle – 年越しそば Toshikoshi Soba
In Japan, it is customary to eat soba noodles on New Year’s Eve. We call it Toshikosi soba. New Year’s Eve soba has many meanings, such as prayers for longevity, breaking off calamities, and for good fortune and luck.
Why soba instead of udon?
Soba noodles thin and long, so people prayed for a longer life span and longevity, just like buckwheat noodles. It was also because during the Edo period (1603-1868), leprosy was prevalent and it was said that eating soba would prevent leprosy, so it was also favoured as a healthy food.
Soba noodles are also easy to cut / broken, so it was believed to sever ties with the year’s hardships, bad karma and other disasters. In the Edo period, Soba Noodles were made from buckwheat flour only. It did not contain gluten, so it was easy to cut / broken easily.
Nowadays, however, wheat flour is also used, so Soba noodles are no longer as easily broken as they were in the past. So It may no longer match the meaning of ‘cutting off misfortune’.
In my family, my mother made soba noodles at the end of the year. They are made from 100% buckwheat flour, so they cut easily.
I always thought it was because my mother’s buckwheat noodles were made by amateurs. Now I know that our family was eating the finest soba noodle that you can’t find in a modern restaurants.
New Year’s decorations – 正月飾り Shogatsu Kazari
In Japan, New Year’s Decorations are part of the traditional custom of celebrating the New Year.
New Year’s decoration, called Shogatu Kazari is a marker to welcome the Toshigami-sama 年神様, the New Year gods who visit homes on New Year’s Day.
The Toshigami-sama is a deity who visits at the beginning of the year and bestows one year’s age and good luck for the year on each person. He is also the god of grain.
Three typical New Year’s decorations
New Year’s pine decoration – 門松 Kadomatsu
Kadomatsu are New Year’s decorations made from pine trees and bamboo and displayed at the entrance to the house. The kadomatsu serves as a landmark when the New Year god visits the house.
The pine tree is a symbol of vitality, which remains green even in winter. Bamboo grows quickly and rapidly, and is considered to represent longevity and prosperity.
New Year’s ropes decoration – しめ飾り Shimekazari
Shime – kazari is a decorating shrines and gates with ropes for the New Year. Like the sacred rope used at shrines, the shime-nawa decoration is meant to serve as a barrier between the Shinto realm and the present world.
By decorating the shime-kazari, you create a sacred space where the New Year’s god can safely descend and be welcomed.
As a child, I remember how excited I was when the shime-kazari were attached to the front door on New Year’s Eve, thinking that the Oshogatsu was really finally coming.
Rice cakes for New Year – 鏡餅 Kagami mochi
Rice cakes for the New Year is called Kagamimochi and it is an offering to the New Year’s god, and is also a vessel in which the god dwells.
Rice cakes, Mochi, are made by pounding rice, each grain of which has its own spiritual power, and are considered to be a sacred food with strong spiritual power.
In my family, the rice cakes were also homemade, so the texture is very different from the store-bought ones.
Mochi can only be made by at least two people. It is a very strenuous job and I was always scared as a child that my mother might get hurt.
So I used to feel relieved when the rice cake pounding was over.
First shrine visit of the New Year – 初詣 Hatsumoude
Hatsumode is a first visit to a local deity (shrine) to express gratitude for the old year and to wish for a good new year. Most Japanese people make their first pilgrimage between 1-3 January.
Some people draw fortunes when they visit a shrine for the first time. It is believed that if you get a big fortune called Daikichi 大吉, very good things will happen that year.
Everyone wants to feel good on New Year’s Day, so why don’t shrines only offer Daikichi?
New Year’s Dishes – おせち料理 Osechi Ryori
One of the most popular Japanese New Year’s foods is the sumptuous Osechi meal.
Osechi meal is a dish of good omen with a strong wish that the whole family will live a healthy and happy life for another year. Therefore, Osechi meal can be said to be an annual special medicinal meal with ingredients carefully selected for good health.
However, I remember that a lot of sugar was added to make it last longer. Osechi meal is also meant so that mothers, who cook for their families every day, don’t have to cook for at least three days during the New Year. Therefore, sugar and vinegar were probably used to make it last longer, like Sushi.
If New Year’s Day in Japan had been in mid-summer, as it is in Australia, the custom of Osechi meal might have been different.
Osechi ryori is a very time-consuming dish, so it is becoming more common for people to buy it in shops instead of making it at home.
I grew up eating my mother’s homemade Osechi dishes, so I may be the last of our generation to be able to eat homemade Osechi. I am lucky.
New Year’s Card – 年賀状 Nengajo
In Japan, it is customary to send New Year’s greeting cards to those who are indebted to you. Nengajo / New Year’s greeting cards originated as letters sent as an alternative when the recipient was far away or the sender was unwell and unable to greet the recipient in person.
When I was in Japan, I wrote between 100 and 200 New Year’s cards at the end of each year. It was a huge task that took several days, but it was a precious opportunity for me to remember friends and acquaintances, each of whom I didn’t get to see very often, and to be thankful that I had met them.
But it was also partly written by social pressure. So when I first moved to Australia, I remember being relieved that I didn’t have to write New Year’s cards anymore.
In recent years, more people are sending electronic versions of New Year’s cards through email and social networking services rather than postcards.
How long will traditional New Year’s survive?
In writing this article on how the Japanese New Year is celebrated, I found that I have experienced both the traditional Japanese New Year and the modern New Year.
I don’t know how long the traditional Japanese New Year will remain.
Soba noodles, Osechi dishes and rice cakes are now generally bought in shops, and cleaning may also be commonly outsourced to cleaners.
Spending a traditional Japanese New Year’s Day with a Japanese girlfriend, a Japanese partner or a Japanese wife could be a new and fun experience.
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