To many cultures, ringing in the new year is a time of utmost importance and celebration, and Japan is no different. In December, typical goodbyes are replaced with よいお年を! (yoi otoshi wo, “have a good year”) and my phone is abuzz right at the strike of midnight with messages saying 明けましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetougozaimasu, “congratulations for seeing the new year”). Here are some unique customs and practices around the beginning and end of the year in Japan.
Japanese New Year Traditions
New Year’s has a much longer history of tradition and cultural importance to Japan than other winter holidays like Christmas. January 1st through 3rd are even holidays for the occasion. As expected the traditions are many, and varied:
Oseibo:
Oseibo (お歳暮) is a gift given to those who aided you in some way throughout the year as a sign of appreciation. This can be friends, coworkers, neighbors, or relatives. The timing and customs of what to give as oseibo vary from region to region but gifts are usually sent out by the 20th and popular contents are food or drinks. Food or drinks make good oseibo gifts as they are consumables that do not take up any unnecessary space in the receiver’s house .
Stricter adherents to oseibo culture ensure that a gift they send a person one year is never cheaper than the gift the sent that person the year before, less the receiver misconstrue the continued strength of the relationship.
Nengajo:
A nengajo (年賀状) is a postcard sent out to distant families, friends, or coworkers at the end of the year. Like Christmas cards, nengajo can be bought from post offices or customized with pictures from the year. These cards serve multiple purposes of updating more distant connections on a household’s life status, as well as maintaining that connection through a small annual ritual. Certain cards from the post office even serve the dual purpose as a lottery ticket!
Kouhaku:
NHK, Japan’s public broadcasting company, began broadcasting the kouhaku uta gassen or “kouhaku” (紅白) on radios in 1951 and television in 1953. Kouhaku is a singing competition of talents and artists from across the country divided into the red (紅) team and the white (白) team. In recent years, the performances start several hours before midnight on New Year’s Eve and run right up to 10 minutes before the next year. The winning team is decided by a combination of celebrity guests, live audience votes, and remote votes from viewers at home. There are also a few “neutral” performances by singers or bands to break up the competition. Despite it being a competition, kouhaku is above all a celebration of the year, and often includes performances by popular artists of the year as a look back on the hits at the time. These artists do not necessarily need to be Japanese, or even human, to participate, with several Korean Pop groups and the vocalized singing software given persona, Hatsune Miku, making appearances at past festivals.
108 Bell Chimes:
The new year is brought in not to the sound of a ball dropping, but bells chiming. Buddhist temples ring a large bronze bell 108 times immediately after midnight. 108 is an important number in Buddhism, representing the 108 earthly desires that prevent an individual from reaching enlightenment and Nirvana. The bell is rung 108 times as a means to ward off these desires and have a “fresh start” to the new year.
Hatsumode:
Hatsumode (初詣) refers to the first visit to a shrine or temple in the new year. After the clock strikes 12 on the new year, throngs of people lined up to say a prayer and receive their first fortune of the year is a common sight at even the most remote of shrines. While the peak time is within the first 3 days of January (usually days off), recently, people are a bit more lax on the temple attendance and just try to get to the temple sometime in January. Businesses will also make visits to shrines at the start of the year to wish for good fortune and good profits. This practice, known as kitou (祈祷) is slightly different from hatsumode, as the companies request a priest of the shrine to make a prayer for them in a more formal ritual than individuals ringing a bell and tossing a coin in a box.
Osechi:
The traditional food eaten during New Year’s in Japan is osechi. Osechi are a variety of specific foods prepared and presented in a box similar to a bento box. While the contents vary from region to region and family to family, some staples include black beans, fish, rolled omelets, and red bean soup with soft rice cakes as a dessert. Many of these foods have names that sound like other positive words in Japanese. For example, beans are mame (豆) in Japanese, which has the same pronunciation as mame (忠実) meaning “healthy” or “devoted.” Thus the foods have strong symbolic meaning to them and are eaten to instill those desires or wishes in the individual in preparation for the new year.
Traditions for Children:
Japanese children have much to look forward to immediately in the new year. Most important among these is otoshidama (お年玉), a gift of money they receive from relatives in the first few days of the year. The amounts vary by the age of the child but are usually significant amounts of at least ￥500, increasing from there. In households with multiple children, amounts given are kept equal. Japanese people usually receive otoshidama from their relatives until about high school age, but some still receive it from their grandparents or other relatives well into adulthood.
There are also card games like uta-garuta (歌ガルタ) or hanafuda (花札), and a racket game called hanetsuki (羽根つき) that are traditional pastimes for the New Year holidays. Schoolchildren also often receive a specific kind of calligraphy homework for the winter holiday called kakizome (書き初め) that involves writing a great poem or word as a wish or symbol for the year, such as good health, long life, or success in studies. The papers are then often burned to complete the ceremonial writing.
Other common year-end tasks include a final great cleaning of the home and the family Buddhist altar, settlement of any debts, and replacing house talismans. Unsurprisingly, the idea of coming into the new year with a clear body and mind is strong, without any baggage or unfinished business. However, the popularity of some of these traditions has been waning or transforming, especially among Japanese youths. One example is the aforementioned nengajo, a longtime staple of the year-end traditions being supplanted by messages, e-cards, and even gift cards sent through social media apps like Line or Instagram. The sentiment is still there, just made easier through online convenience. Additionally, some Gen Z members, particularly in big cities like Tokyo or Osaka, balance or completely eschew the quiet New Year’s Day with family in favor of a more Western style of New Year’s with parties and raucous celebration. Do these trends mark the death of the old annual traditions? Certainly not. Ultimately, Japan will most likely land somewhere in the middle, syncretizing and digitizing New Year traditions to create a new manner of tradition, just as they have done with Christmas.
Conclusion
As Japan transforms and grows in its customs and year-end practices, we at Uism will be there to follow the trends and counsel businesses on strategies to take advantage of any shifts or opportunities that arise. Our New Year’s resolution is, as always, to continue to provide high quality UX services to an ever-vague, ever-growing Japanese and global market. We wish you the best in the new year and hope to celebrate your business’ resolutions of success together in those future days.
良いお年を!
From all of us at Uism
About the Author
Ross Miller
Ross utilized his background in languages and East Asian cultures to improve academic and business practices across Japan. He recently acquired his MBA in Business Leadership and Innovation, with a focus in systems thinking, design, and social business. A professional “bridge builder” in diversity management, he wishes to utilize those talents as the perfect liaison in international UX research. Though only spending 5 years in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, he’s picked up the habits and accent enough to be mistaken for half-Kyushuan on several occasions.