culture corner: Shôgatsu

Now well into the New Year, Americans have witnessed the descending of New York City’s Times Square Ball and toasted their first glass of champagne for 2008. Meanwhile, the Japanese have finished preparing boxes of osechi-ryôri (New Year’s food). The rush to purchase New Year’s decorations, like kadomatsu (gate pine; doorway) and kagami mochi (mirror rice cakes) is over, and children have received their otoshidama, gifts of money often presented in decorated envelopes, from relatives.

In Japanese culture, Christmas is overshadowed by Shôgatsu (New Year’s) and ômisoka, the final day of the year and the second most important day of the Japanese calendar. Businesses and households alike do their ômisoka ôsôji (house cleaning), similar to Western spring cleaning, to provide an atmosphere of a clean and fresh beginning. It is also traditional to pay off all debts and finish any work-related business or schoolwork before the New Year.

Similar to the Western tradition of sending Christmas cards, Japanese families send New Year’s postcards, or nengajô. Nengajô often include illustrations or photos with a short message notifying family, friends, and acquaintances of the senders’ well-being and wishes for an Akemashite o-medetôgozaimasu (Happy New Year). The only time nengajô aren’t sent is when there has been a death in the family during the year. Even with the rise of e-mail, sending nengajô remains popular, though not as much as the tradition of giving otoshi-dama. The tradition of giving otoshi-dama originated in China where red packets called pochibukuro were given to children. During the Edo period, mikan (Mandarin oranges) and mochi, Japanese symbols of happiness and prosperity, were distributed rather than money.

Families and friends gather for an end-of-the-year meal of toshikoshi soba, a simple dish that consists of long brown noodles in a plain broth, or toshikoshi udon. Toshikoshi means, “from one year to the next," and the long thin noodles are believed to be a symbol of longevity and prosperity.

One of the most ancient practices of ômisoka occurs on New Year’s Eve. The jôya no kane, or the 108 chimes of the temple bonshô (cast bell), ring through the night to drive away the 108 mortal sins, thus purifying the spirit for the New Year. A more contemporary feature of ômisoka is the airing of NHK’s (Japan’s public broadcaster) annual New Year’s music special, “Kôhaku Uta Gassen.”

So, while American families toasted champagne and counted down the seconds to midnight, Japanese families slurped on toshikoshi soba, gathered around the TV to cheer on the Kôhaku performers, or perhaps even stayed up and chatted until the Jôya no kane tolled in the New Year.

Akemashite o-medetô-gozaimasu. Kotoshi mo yoroshiku o-negai-shimasu. (Happy New Year. May this year be blessed with good tidings.)

—Mina Furusho