New Years in Japan

At midnight on New Years day I watched in awe as thousands of balloons were released into the vast Tokyo sky at Zojoji Temple. Each balloon had a personnel wish for 2009 attached to it, and was held by one of the thousands of people that attended. Leading up to the countdown the echo of Buddhism chants and prayers trailed through the temple complex, and the smell of in-cents fragenced the air. It was a spiritual occasion and the beginning of a very important holiday in Japan.

When the countdown finished I half expected champagne bottles to magically appeal in celebration, (this is what occurred when I celebrated the 2006 New Years in Krakow, Poland) but that was not the case. Although it is legal to drink anywhere in Japan (unlike Poland), New Years isn’t celebrated with alcohol. It is a time to visit temples and shrines and wish for new beginnings.

In Japan, New Years is the holiday equivalent to our Christmas. People don’t send Christmas cards to their family and friends, they send New Years cards. New Years is the time the Japanese have family gatherings, with gift giving and excessive eating.

Before the crowed countdown at Zojoji temple, I was able to watch part of the Buddhist ceremony. The monks were dressed in extravagant robes, wore authentic Japanese sandals and recited (what I’m assuming were) prayers from a calligraphy hand written scroll. After the prayer reading was finished the main monk walked over to a fire outside the temple, and placed the prayers in it. The ashes were carried through a tree and ribbon tied gateway into the sky.

   A day after the big event, I was included in a Japanese New Year’s gathering. One of my Japanese co-workers invited me to her house. This particular teacher, Sanae, has constantly extended her kindness to me, I’ve gone to Disneyland with her family, picked clementines at a orchard with them, taken cooking classes with her, and she continues to offer me odd Japanese vegetables from her garden, that I have no idea what to do with! Giant radish anyone?

Sanae, has five children, and two of them are around my age. One of her daughters is fluent in English since she has lived in New Zealand for the past fourteen years, and luckily she was visiting. There were about twenty people that came for the feast and BINGO. We all sat on the floor around a long rectangle table that was covered in plates and plates of authentic Japanese food. I would actually be happy to never eat squid again…but it’s everywhere here! I drank Japanese sake with cold green tea, which is a common drink here called an ‘oolong hai,’ and it’s actually quite nice.

After dinner the contest for the best lucky bag began. A lucky bag is mystery bag that most stores sell at the beginning of the year. Japanese people crowd into the stops to purchase their lucky bags on the day of the big sale. The prices range from ¥1000 to ¥5000 yen, about $15-60 dollars and the bags could have anything in them, such as socks, candles, make-up, canned food, it depends what stores you buy them from.

We started playing BINGO, and one by one, the winners were able to pick their lucky bag. Some of the prizes included Lego, care bear slippers, in-cents, a crate of Japanese oranges, Sake, fake plants etc. Each bag was a new funny surprise. Even though I couldn’t communicate to most people there, I could understand their expressions and enjoy their reactions. The night carried on with the adolescent males drinking too much sake, older men enjoying beer, and the women sipping hot green tea.  

• Japan
• New Years