Akiko from Tokyo, Japan

For the last New Year, I got to go back home and spend time with my family and friends. I went out with my friends to go to this “end of year” kind of party on December 30 at a hotel and we had a great time there, but I decided to spend the next day with my family since we do not get together so often! On December 31, we finished cleaning the house and I helped my mother cook some New Year food. This is really a lot of work! Earlier, this New Year food was meant to be giving a rest for women during New Year days; however, they have to work much more before that anyway, and I assume that either way is pretty tiring for them! Anyway, we just relaxed, watched TV and so on to wait for midnight. A little before midnight, we ate noodles as mentioned in New Year Activities and listened to the bells from nearby temples. Finally at midnight, we greeted each other and spent a little more time together later on.

The next morning, my brother and I received the pocket money from our parents. We greeted again, we prayed for Buddhist gods and wished for a new year. Now, it was time to eat “osechi ryouri”. We carried all the “jubako” boxes from another room to the dining room and started eating. After that, we visited a shrine. There was a long line there and we waited for about half an hour. This is not that bad for the first visit of the year to a shrine. Sometimes, in some shrines, people have to line up for a couple of hours to pray. Normally, January 1 is a very lazy day for people and we were no exception.

The 2nd and 3rd days did not have anything special. The only thing I did was to practice wearing “kimono” with my mother. Kimono is Japanese traditional clothes for young, unmarried women. On January 15, we have a special celebration for people who are 20 years old and I was supposed to attend there with my formal dress, kimono. This event is called “Coming of Age” because in Japanese culture, you are considered to be an adult by society when you are 20 year old. By the way, it is really hard to wear kimono. They are made of silk. They are heavy and tight. It takes more than about an hour to get dressed. First, I really hated it tightened up my stomach so hard that I was about to puke when my mother was dressing me. Later on, I finally got used to it and I really loved it.

On January 4, we visited our temple that we are supporting members of. We visit there periodically but this is not really a custom for other Japanese people. None of my friends go to a temple like we do. I am not a big Buddhist, but I enjoy visiting there because there comes so many people who know me since I was a baby and it is really fun to talk to them. I had not seen them all for 1 year, so it was especially nice to meet them again. My family is really small and I do not have many relatives, but our New Year never gets quiet because of this visit. We preyed there, talked to old friends and had a good time.

I mostly spend my New Year like this every year. So far I have never spent New Year in US but I wonder how it would be if I do. I like the way we celebrate New Year and I hope that our custom will last for long.