The New Year Is Open! Congratulations!
Is a rough translation of how Happy New Year is said in Japanese.
During a phone call with the folks the other day, my dad asked me if New Years is a big holiday here. New Years here is called shogatsu, and is a 3-day celebration (Jan 1-3) which has many traditions associated with it. I by no means know them all, nor am I going to recount them here. There are special foods, drinks, visits to shrines, words to be said, and prophetic interpretations of dreams.
So I used the best barometer I could. "Dad, there is no trash service for 3 days." None. Big X's cover the dates on the color-coordinated novel of instructions for separating and disposing of trash. Forget about using the opening of post offices and schools to determine how big a holiday is. Trash service is the best measuring stick here.
One very neat thing about watching the calendar change in Japan is that it is save New Zealand, part of Australia, and a couple remote places in Siberia, Japan gets the first sunrise of each day. Hence its nickname "The Land of The Rising Sun."
So it was neat being awake to witness the world's first sunrise of 2007. It was also very weird thinking, at 12:45AM, that the rest of the world was still in 2006. An American friend of mine pointed out how each year, as midnight approached in America, the television programs would show celebrations from the other major cities in the world. Of course not here. There aren't too many major cities ahead of Japan.
2007 is the year of the boar in Japanese culture (other Asian countries too??) so there are boars everywhere in advertisements. "Piggy banks" have been popular gifts recently. As have been boar balloons, boar-shaped pastries, and greeting cards. It's January 2nd here, and I'm already sick of boars.
In Japan, people send out New Years greeting cards the way many Americans send out family Christmas cards. Except here, there is frequently not a family photo and an update of the past year. Instead, there's a big boar (or the designated animal of the year).
But in any case, congratulations, the new year is open! I know you all deserve congratulations, for your incredibly hard work to keep the world spinning on its axis and revolving around the sun. With your continued dedication, I know we can make 2008 a reality too.
During a phone call with the folks the other day, my dad asked me if New Years is a big holiday here. New Years here is called shogatsu, and is a 3-day celebration (Jan 1-3) which has many traditions associated with it. I by no means know them all, nor am I going to recount them here. There are special foods, drinks, visits to shrines, words to be said, and prophetic interpretations of dreams.
So I used the best barometer I could. "Dad, there is no trash service for 3 days." None. Big X's cover the dates on the color-coordinated novel of instructions for separating and disposing of trash. Forget about using the opening of post offices and schools to determine how big a holiday is. Trash service is the best measuring stick here.
One very neat thing about watching the calendar change in Japan is that it is save New Zealand, part of Australia, and a couple remote places in Siberia, Japan gets the first sunrise of each day. Hence its nickname "The Land of The Rising Sun."
So it was neat being awake to witness the world's first sunrise of 2007. It was also very weird thinking, at 12:45AM, that the rest of the world was still in 2006. An American friend of mine pointed out how each year, as midnight approached in America, the television programs would show celebrations from the other major cities in the world. Of course not here. There aren't too many major cities ahead of Japan.
2007 is the year of the boar in Japanese culture (other Asian countries too??) so there are boars everywhere in advertisements. "Piggy banks" have been popular gifts recently. As have been boar balloons, boar-shaped pastries, and greeting cards. It's January 2nd here, and I'm already sick of boars.
In Japan, people send out New Years greeting cards the way many Americans send out family Christmas cards. Except here, there is frequently not a family photo and an update of the past year. Instead, there's a big boar (or the designated animal of the year).
But in any case, congratulations, the new year is open! I know you all deserve congratulations, for your incredibly hard work to keep the world spinning on its axis and revolving around the sun. With your continued dedication, I know we can make 2008 a reality too.
posted by David at 11:04 PM
1 Comments:
haha, sick of boars are you? i'm a boar. yay, it's finally my year!
and yes, in other asian countries too. i dunno which besides China though. technically it is called the Chinese Zodiac; like many kanji characters, Japan stole--cough, cough, borrowed--their zodiac from China.
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