Japanese holidays and traditions!
Hello again from Tokyo! I've been just ticking along and planning a short trip away just before my birthday (location to be kept secret for now, but I'm super excited for it). I can't believe I'll be 23 soon! Not feeling 22 anymore... :P We also have our shinnenkai, or New Year's party, tomorrow night, so that should be a fun night.
I recently came to the realisation that I haven't really delved into talking a lot about Japanese culture and traditions, so I thought it may be interesting to discuss that in this post. I'll cover a few different holidays and how Japan celebrates, as well as a few other traditions.
Before I get into the holidays, I thought I'd give an insight into the general culture and religion of Japan. Japan was very closed off to the rest of the world for a long time and only opened it's doors to foreign trade and influence in 1845. This means that it was, and still is, a largely homogenous culture, with the majority of residents being Japanese. Japanese have become more open to tourism in recent years, and Japan has become more and more well known as a major tourist destination. The next two years will put Japan on the map even more, with the Rugby World Cup happening later this year all across Japan (up the AB's) and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics next year.
The main religions of Japan are Buddhism and Shinto, but these days many Japanese are not religious at all. There are a large number of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples that reflect this.
Now I'll get onto the holidays and how Japan celebrates. Let's start with the most recent holiday which was New Year. New Year in Japan is very much a family time. People spend time in their hometowns with their families, and often visit shrines and temples on January 1st. This is known as Hatsumode which translates to first visit to a shrine/temple of the year. People also burn lucky items at the shrine during this time. It's considered bad luck to throw these away, or to hold onto them once the year ends, so instead they burn them. This practice is called Dondo Yaki. The other traditional thing to do on January 1st is watch the sun rise. This is known as hatsuhinode. Mothers also usually cook enough food to last the next few days so people can relax and enjoy family time. Lots of businesses are closed for the first few days of the new year to allow people to spend time with family and have a break.
On the other side of the coin, there's another newer 'tradition' or custom during the New Years period which is to buy fukubukero, or lucky bags, from various stores. These generally contain old stock that stores want to get rid of, and the bags retail for far less than the total value of what's inside. You can get some really good deals with these! The catch is that you don't know what's inside, so you're not guaranteed to like everything, and these bags tend to sell out fast, so you need to be at the shops ridiculously early. People camped out overnight to get their hands on Pokemon centre lucky bags this year! I really wish New Zealand had something like this, as it's a great way for businesses to get rid of old stock, and you can get some great bargains. Win-win!
After New Year, we have Valentine's Day, February 14th. In New Zealand, it's not really a big thing, but in American culture it's huge, and it's made it's way to Japan. In Japan, however, there is a slight twist. The women buy presents for the men! A month later, there is a day known as White Day (March 14th), where the men buy for the ladies.
Around the end of March, beginning of April is 'hanami season' or cherry blossom season and people go crazy for this. They have picnics and drink in the park and enjoy the warmer weather and beautiful blossoms. I can't wait for this time of year to roll around again!
The next holiday on the calendar is, in Western culture, Easter, but in Japan they don't really do Easter. Like Christmas, Easter is largely a commercial thing here, and is definitely not a public holiday.
Following Easter, we have Golden Week at the end of April/start of May. Golden Week is a collection of four national holidays in seven days. These national holidays are Showa Day (April 29), after the Emperor Showa who reigned from 1926 to 1989, Constitution Day (May 3rd), Greenery Day (May 4th) and Children's Day (May 5th). This is a busy travel time and popular tourist spots can get extremely crowded. It's also in spring, so the weather is perfect, not too hot not too cold.
The next major holiday period in Japan is Obon. This is a Buddhist custom that revolves around honouring one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during Obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives. It's a time when many families get together and pay respects to their ancestors. Obon happens around the middle of August each year for about a week. Like Golden Week, this is a popular time to travel, and many places can get super busy!
I've mentioned Halloween a few times on the blog before, but it really blew my mind that it was only really introduced into Japanese society about 10 years ago. Before then, it wasn't a thing here at all! It's funny how Western cultures have had such an influence on Japan recently once it opened up to the idea of tourism and more and more foreigners started to move here.
Then you have Christmas, which, as I may have mentioned before, is not technically a public holiday, and like Easter, it's very commercialised. It's very much a couples' day here, whereas in Western culture it's a more family oriented affair. I've definitely mentioned Christmas foods in Japan here before, so I won't go into detail about that. Let's just say it's a bit different from a turkey and roast veggies...
There are a few other stand-alone national holidays, including 'coming of age day', 'respect for aged people's day' and 'sports and exercise day', but these are usually just 3 day weekends. A bit different to Labour day, Waitangi day and regional anniversary days that we have in New Zealand! Another significant day is someone's 20th birthday. 20 is considered to be a very special age in Japan, whereas in Western culture, it would be 18 or 21 that are considered the big 'coming of age' birthdays.
I think that about covers the major holiday periods in Japan, and a few customs around these. I hope this has been interesting and informative. It's always fascinating to hear about how different countries celebrate different holidays and it gives an insight into what they value as part of their culture and history.
As always, thanks for reading all the way to the end, and I'll be back again soon with another life in Japan update, and you'll find out where I'm going for my birthday!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah. xx
I recently came to the realisation that I haven't really delved into talking a lot about Japanese culture and traditions, so I thought it may be interesting to discuss that in this post. I'll cover a few different holidays and how Japan celebrates, as well as a few other traditions.
Before I get into the holidays, I thought I'd give an insight into the general culture and religion of Japan. Japan was very closed off to the rest of the world for a long time and only opened it's doors to foreign trade and influence in 1845. This means that it was, and still is, a largely homogenous culture, with the majority of residents being Japanese. Japanese have become more open to tourism in recent years, and Japan has become more and more well known as a major tourist destination. The next two years will put Japan on the map even more, with the Rugby World Cup happening later this year all across Japan (up the AB's) and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics next year.
The main religions of Japan are Buddhism and Shinto, but these days many Japanese are not religious at all. There are a large number of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples that reflect this.
Now I'll get onto the holidays and how Japan celebrates. Let's start with the most recent holiday which was New Year. New Year in Japan is very much a family time. People spend time in their hometowns with their families, and often visit shrines and temples on January 1st. This is known as Hatsumode which translates to first visit to a shrine/temple of the year. People also burn lucky items at the shrine during this time. It's considered bad luck to throw these away, or to hold onto them once the year ends, so instead they burn them. This practice is called Dondo Yaki. The other traditional thing to do on January 1st is watch the sun rise. This is known as hatsuhinode. Mothers also usually cook enough food to last the next few days so people can relax and enjoy family time. Lots of businesses are closed for the first few days of the new year to allow people to spend time with family and have a break.
On the other side of the coin, there's another newer 'tradition' or custom during the New Years period which is to buy fukubukero, or lucky bags, from various stores. These generally contain old stock that stores want to get rid of, and the bags retail for far less than the total value of what's inside. You can get some really good deals with these! The catch is that you don't know what's inside, so you're not guaranteed to like everything, and these bags tend to sell out fast, so you need to be at the shops ridiculously early. People camped out overnight to get their hands on Pokemon centre lucky bags this year! I really wish New Zealand had something like this, as it's a great way for businesses to get rid of old stock, and you can get some great bargains. Win-win!
After New Year, we have Valentine's Day, February 14th. In New Zealand, it's not really a big thing, but in American culture it's huge, and it's made it's way to Japan. In Japan, however, there is a slight twist. The women buy presents for the men! A month later, there is a day known as White Day (March 14th), where the men buy for the ladies.
Around the end of March, beginning of April is 'hanami season' or cherry blossom season and people go crazy for this. They have picnics and drink in the park and enjoy the warmer weather and beautiful blossoms. I can't wait for this time of year to roll around again!
The next holiday on the calendar is, in Western culture, Easter, but in Japan they don't really do Easter. Like Christmas, Easter is largely a commercial thing here, and is definitely not a public holiday.
Following Easter, we have Golden Week at the end of April/start of May. Golden Week is a collection of four national holidays in seven days. These national holidays are Showa Day (April 29), after the Emperor Showa who reigned from 1926 to 1989, Constitution Day (May 3rd), Greenery Day (May 4th) and Children's Day (May 5th). This is a busy travel time and popular tourist spots can get extremely crowded. It's also in spring, so the weather is perfect, not too hot not too cold.
The next major holiday period in Japan is Obon. This is a Buddhist custom that revolves around honouring one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during Obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives. It's a time when many families get together and pay respects to their ancestors. Obon happens around the middle of August each year for about a week. Like Golden Week, this is a popular time to travel, and many places can get super busy!
I've mentioned Halloween a few times on the blog before, but it really blew my mind that it was only really introduced into Japanese society about 10 years ago. Before then, it wasn't a thing here at all! It's funny how Western cultures have had such an influence on Japan recently once it opened up to the idea of tourism and more and more foreigners started to move here.
Then you have Christmas, which, as I may have mentioned before, is not technically a public holiday, and like Easter, it's very commercialised. It's very much a couples' day here, whereas in Western culture it's a more family oriented affair. I've definitely mentioned Christmas foods in Japan here before, so I won't go into detail about that. Let's just say it's a bit different from a turkey and roast veggies...
There are a few other stand-alone national holidays, including 'coming of age day', 'respect for aged people's day' and 'sports and exercise day', but these are usually just 3 day weekends. A bit different to Labour day, Waitangi day and regional anniversary days that we have in New Zealand! Another significant day is someone's 20th birthday. 20 is considered to be a very special age in Japan, whereas in Western culture, it would be 18 or 21 that are considered the big 'coming of age' birthdays.
I think that about covers the major holiday periods in Japan, and a few customs around these. I hope this has been interesting and informative. It's always fascinating to hear about how different countries celebrate different holidays and it gives an insight into what they value as part of their culture and history.
As always, thanks for reading all the way to the end, and I'll be back again soon with another life in Japan update, and you'll find out where I'm going for my birthday!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah. xx
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