New Year’s Day, or shougatsu, is the most significant time of the year in Japan. Shougatsu signifies a completely fresh start of things, a time for the old year and its many troubles to end, and hope that the incoming year will be full of joy and prosperity. It is an age-old belief that years are separate from each other, and that ongoing concerns must be concluded at the end of the old year. Friends and companies even revel in bonenkai (year forgetting parties) for the purpose of waving away the troubles of the past 12 months.

The first day of the year is said to reflect the  year to come, so it is important that it is joyous and stress-free, with everything in order and no work is done. One important activity on January 1 is the viewing of the first sunrise of the year (hatsu-hinode). Families take a break from their daily routine to spend time at home  and eat a special dinner together. Toshikoshi soba (year-transition noodles) are a favorite at this time as they signify long life. Other favorite dishes are osechi ryori, otoso (sweetened rice wine) and ozoni (a soup with mochi). Shougatsu is also an occasion to send out New Years greeting cards to friends, relatives, and co-workers, all especially marked to arrive at their destinations on January 1. Traditional games like hanetsuki (Japanese badminton), takoage (kite flying), and haruta (card game) used to be fashionable past-times, but their popularity has waned in recent years. A new year’s activity that has gained recent popularity, however, is the watching of Kohaku Uta Gassen, a variety show featuring the hottest J-Pop and Enka performers in spectacular stage settings and stunning musical numbers.

Video courtesy of shoe0227

Another important ritual is the first visit to a temple or shrine, called hatsumode. These visits occur throughout Japan in thousands of religious sites. The Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, the Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, and the Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka, in particular, receive millions of worshipers from January 1 to 3. Visitors will have to line up for hours for their turn to pray at the offering hall. Otherwise, they can witness the festival atmosphere with dozens of food stalls selling favorite dishes, while the crowd buys up new lucky charms and makes wishes for a blessed new year. The best time to visit, of course, is on New Year’s Eve, when the large temple bells are rung repeatedly at the stroke of midnight.

Shougatsu is also one of two occasions the inner grounds of the Tokyo Imperial Palace is open to the public (the other one is during the Emperor’s birthday on December 26). On January 2, between 10am and 3pm, the emperor and selected royal family members make several appearances to the excited crowd for  a short greeting behind a glass-protected balcony.

Visitors will find it particularly inconvenient during the New Year celebrations as most shops, restaurants, and commercial establishments are closed between January 1 and 3. Not only are the many regular Japanese customers away or at home for the holidays, but the staffs themselves are on leave to visit their families and relatives.

Another difficulty for tourists is the overcrowded transportation between cities. The period between December 29 to 31 and January 2 to 4 get particularly intense, as terminals, airports, and highways get crowded by families moving to and from their hometowns in the countryside. It is also the time for overseas vacations, so international flights get hectic as well. Visitors can ease their inter-city travel worries by purchasing a Shougatsu Pass, which offers unlimited transit for all JR East trains on January 1 for 12,000 yen (you need to buy the pass before December 31).

Shougatsu is a very family-centric holiday for the Japanese, and foreigners might feel left out during the celebrations. The best way to spend it in Japan is if you know a close friend there, who may invite you with the festivities with the rest of his family. Afterwards, don’t forget to send your gracious friend a New Years card to show thanks for a memorable holiday.

Posted in Events, Japan

This entry was posted on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Events, Japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.