Oshogatsu

New Year in Japan. I have been doing lessons about New Year in Japan these last couple of weeks. And I`m enjoying them a lot. Lessons that are genuine are always the best ones, when there is no pretence, no role play of stupid conversations that do not relate to the students` reality in anyway (but which form such a big part of their English lessons with the textbook).

The reason these New Year lessons are a success is that I genuinely don`t know about New Year in Japan. When I ask them a question in English, it is a real question that I have. This is real communication in English for them – the whole reason they have been learning their whole lives! And in general they respond well to it, because it is not fake.

I like it, because I have learnt so much about New Year from my students. And I`m going to try to write as much of it as I can remember here:

New Years Eve (less important than New Years Day, unlike England).
People will eat “toshikoshi soba”. As far as I can gather, this is soba noodles but made with special noodles that are circular (to represent the coming-around of the New Year/ completion of the last, I think). (Edit: The internet doesn`t mention circularity so I may have miss-heard/ understood this. It says soba noodles because their longness represents longevity).


New Years Day (for family – families will get together – like xmas in England).
Hatsuhinode – people will get up/ stay up to watch the first sunrise coming up over the Pacific Ocean on the beach.

Hatsumode – people will visit a shrine. They will pray/ make a wish for the year and throw a coin into the special box at the shrine.
They may also take a fortune slip at the shrine. If it`s lucky they will believe it, if it`s unlucky they will generally forget about it.
At big shrines there will sometimes be a ceremony (old Japanese is spoken – and nobody will understand the meaning (similar to Latin in church services I suppose). Also in the more Chinese shrines there is the tradition of a person dancing with the head of a lion – shishmai. The lion will bite the head of a few people in the audience. If the lion bites your head, this is considered very lucky.

The dream that you have during the first night of the new year is also considered to be very significant. If you dream about Mt. Fuji, a hawk, and/ or an eggplant this is considered to be very lucky and is a good omen for the coming year.

There are also special traditional games that are played at New Year.
Takoage – children will fly kites.
Karuta – this is a card game that people will play.
There is a traditional game, similar to badminton played with decorated special raquets and a shuttle cock that people (mainly girls) will play.
There is also a spinning top game that children will play; you pull the string and it sets the top spinning.

Nengajo - Japanese people will also send New Year cards to arrive on New Years Day. This is similar to a postcard. Families may send about 100 of these cards. Children might send a few. Typically they are printed with a message from the family (not hand-written like our xmas cards). The picture on the card will always have the symbol of the Chinese animal that represents the coming year, on the card – this year you couldn`t move in the shops for these funny cartoon cows (oxes, I think they are meant to be!). When you send it at the post office, the post office will print a number on the card. This is like a lottery. A couple of weeks after New Year the lucky numbers will be printed in the national newspapers and published on the internet. You can win things like a fridge, down to some stamps if you receive a new year card with those numbers.
Not all families will send New Year cards – if there has been a funeral in the family that year, then that family will not send new year cards/ cannot send a Happy New Year message (because of the death in the previous year).

Otoshidama is a very important custom to the students – adult relatives of children will give the children (up to age 18-20 presumably) gifts of money (presented in special envelopes). Typically my students received about \10,000 – about 50 quid.

There is a lot of special food associated with New Year.
Osechi – this is like a platter of lots of different types of food. (Typical Japanese – small, bitty). It will typically contain – Kaboca – ground up fish paste, chestnuts, black beans, egg and fish paste together, herring roe Osechi is a favourite at New Year.
Mochi – the rice cakes. A lot of these are eaten at New Year in many different forms. They are eaten in ozoni (the clear vegetable soup), with anko (the red, sweet azuki bean paste), with natto, covered in the sweet green soy bean flour. The strange texture takes some getting used to but I like them.
For the Japanese, mochi are a guilty treat. Something they shouldn`t have too much of or else they`ll get fat. To me, it seems strange something that is only made of rice is unhealthy but the Japanese definitely have a different view of what is bad for them. Apparently, the special rice used to make mochi is more calorific. And the fact the air has been compressed out, means more calories. It is a worry for the Japanese!

New Year decorations:
These are all put out to attract the presence of the gods into the family house.
Kadomatsu is a decoration made from 3 bamboo canes and some pine. It is put outside the front gate.
Kagamimochi is a decoration made from 2 mochi stacked, and a orange (mikan) placed on top. With a small decorative flag sometimes aswell. People will eat this decoration on January 11th traditionally.

On perhaps the coming days after New Years Day people will go shopping. Fukubukuro is a tradition. Shops will sell bags of surprise goods. It is common for people to buy these surprise bags. They come in all different price ranges.

In work places, there may be an enkai to celebrate the New Year. However, this didn`t happen in my case, because there is also the tradition to have the bonenkai (the end of year party) at the end of the last year. As enkais are usually expensive, some work places do not have this new year party as well.