Japanese New Year's Eve

It's almost New Year's in Japan. New Year's Eve is an important holiday in Japan. The end of the year is celebrated with parties all through December, but New Year's Eve is celebrated with family.

Most people travel to their parents or grandparents home. The day is spent together, and there is often a trip to a shrine at midnight. Special buckwheat noodles, toshikoshi soba are eaten. There is also a famous television show that everyone watches: kohaku uta gassen. On this program famous singers, both new J-pop, and traditional Japanese singers compete on two teams: Red vs. White.

Most Japanese will visit a shrine within the first three days of the new year, and many people will purchase a fortune.for a few hundred yen (a dollar or two). There are many levels of fortunes. Good fortunes are kept all year, but bad fortunes are left at the shrine and tied to trees, where they will be unable to follow you all year.

This year, I am traveling to Hiroshima to celebrate the new year. I have about 10 days off from teaching English, so I will visit the peace musuem, an onsen, and the city of Hiroshima during my free time. Most exciting for me, I will be celebrating this important holdiday with a Japanese family my roommate knows well. I will be sure to post more when I return! Happy New Year: Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

And another fun Japanese expression is: Kotoshi mo yoroshiku O-negai shimasu! Which roughly translates to: please be kind to me, as i will to you, this year too!