Akemashite omedetō! New Year's in Japan is a festive experience—there's so much to look forward to beyond the usual drinking, partying, and counting down till midnight.
Japanese New Year is a cultural celebration filled with centuries-old traditions and the most delicious meals of your life.
As they say, it's eat, drink, and pray in Japan during New Year! So tuck away your silly party hat and put on your cutest kimono because we're headed to the shrine to learn more about how Japan celebrates the New Year.
What Is Japan's New Year Tradition?
In the US and other Western countries, New Year’s is all about drinking, eating, and waiting up till midnight with friends and loved ones. But what about the highly cultural and conservative country of Japan? What happens in Japan for New Year’s?
Well, in Japan, New Year's is the most important traditional holiday. According to the Shinto tradition, a kami or god enters people's homes during the New Year. The holiday is all about purification and renewal. That's why families take extra care to prepare for New Year's celebrations.
Before the big holiday arrives, Japanese people partake in multiple rituals to cleanse their home and their minds. A lot of these rituals include cleaning, putting up special decorations, visiting shrines, praying, and eating special food (which you can dive into in our blog about Japanese New Year Food) to bless the year to come.
When Is Japanese New Year?
You might be expecting Japan to celebrate New Year at the same time as China, but the official Japanese New Year day falls on January 1 of every year. This practice began in 1873 during the Meiji Restoration when Japan decided to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
Before the Meiji era, Japan used to celebrate New Year on the first day of the Tenpo calendar, which was the very last official lunisolar calendar. Devised by Japanese astronomers and mathematicians, the Tenpo calendar begins each lunar month on the day of the new moon and adds a leap month when needed.
What Is New Year in Japan Called?
New Year’s is a little bit complicated in Japan. Gantan (元旦) is one of the three words used by the Japanese to refer to New Year. This word means the morning of New Year’s Day. Its second kanji, “旦,” represents the sun coming over the horizon. If you look closely at the characters, it even looks like a sunrise!
The second word that can be used to refer to New Year’s in Japan is Ganjitsu (元日). This word refers to the very whole 24 hours of New Year’s Day. Ganjitsu is a very busy time for the Japanese because after having breakfast with their family, they visit shrines and temples and then roam around shops looking for New Year’s sales.
Last but not least, we have shogatsu (正月). This word is used to refer to the entire New Year’s Celebration in Japan, which can last for several days! Oshogatsu (しょうがつ) usually starts on the 31st of December and continues till the 3rd of January. Schools and businesses are closed during this time so that families can get together and welcome a prosperous year.
How to Say Happy New Year in Japanese
Japan's culture is refined and complex, so it should come as no surprise that there are many ways of greeting other people with a “Happy New Year” in Japanese. Let’s learn about some of the most popular ways to greet each other a great New Year in Japan.
Some New Year's greetings are used during specific times like "yoiotoshiwo” which is often said towards the end of the year. This phrase means to hope that the person you're talking to has an excellent new year. After March 31, “yoiotishiwo” no longer applies. Instead, phrases that can be used from the 1st of January are "Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu" and "hinnen omedeto gozaimasu."
The best way to say Happy New Year is "shinnen omedeto." This phrase doesn't have any limitations and can be used at any time you want to greet someone. Some informal phrases that work well are the short and simple “akeome” and the phrase “kotoyoro.” The latter is a great way to greet family and friends because it means that you hope that your friendship/relationship will grow stronger in the year to come!
Does Japan Get New Year's Off?
In Japan, the official public holiday falls on January 1, but a lot of Japanese people take the time to travel back to their hometowns during the New Year's season. Everyone wants to be around their family during New Year! Small shops and restaurants that are usually privately owned also close during the shogatsu celebrations.
That's why if you're traveling in Japan during New Year's, you'll have to plan well. Book your train reservations ahead of time because New Year's is peak season when everyone will go home. Though JR Trains run all night long from December 31 to January 1 (this only happens once a year since Japanese trains usually stop working at midnight), you should expect a crowd of people riding along with you.
Plan out the places you want to visit - though shrines and temples are open during that time, museums, shops, and tourist attractions might close or have limited hours during the holiday. The same goes for restaurants, too. Some might close during New Year’s, so it’s best to make reservations ahead of time.
Japanese supermarkets are also closed between January 1 to January 3, so it's better if you get your groceries before Shogatsu in Japan. Though you don’t need to worry too much - konbinis or Japanese convenience stores are open during the New Year's holidays. Unlike other establishments in Japan, konbinis like 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawsons are open 24 hours all year round, ready to satisfy your Japanese snack cravings!
Do Japanese People Go Partying on New Year's Eve?
Normally, New Year's in Japan is a cultural affair that's more about family and renewal. However, big cities like Tokyo do have parties during New Year's. You'll find these parties at bars, nightclubs, and live music venues. If you go to live music bars, you'll find bands playing music all night long, which is also an interesting way to welcome the New Year.
What Do Japanese Families Do to Start the Year Fresh?
In Japan, December 31, the final day of the year, is called omisoka (New Year's Eve). This is the day when families prepare to welcome the gods into their homes. How exactly? Do Japanese families clean up during the New Year?
Yes, they do! Japanese families gather around to clean the house from top to bottom to every nook and cranny they can find. Called oosuji, this big clean-up is how families start fresh for the New Year. Families clean up every nook and cranny and then put up special decorations (which you can read about in our blog on Japanese New Year Decorations).
Oosuji isn't just a household tradition, though! Shops and merchants also have their own clean up during the New Year by selling old stock with the help of fukubukuro or lucky bags. The word fukubukuro comes from the Japanese words fuku (luck) and fukuro (bag). Some believe it also comes from the Japanese saying "there is fortune in leftovers." Sold at a major discount, fukubukuro bags are really lucky to have!
Want to experience the excitement of opening a fukubukuro? Kawaii Box surprises you with kawaii plushies, cute accessories, and more straight from Tokyo to your door so you can celebrate Japanese New Year in the cutest way possible!
Besides oosuji, Japanese families also gather around on the eve of New Year itself to eat and to watch omisoka TV programs which are specially made to celebrate the occasion. At the same time, they also like to eat toshikoshi soba or year-crossing buckwheat noodles in the hopes that their lives will be as long as the noodles!
Of course, omisoka wouldn’t be complete without fun and games at home! During the day, kids can do takoage (kite flying) or hanetsuki, a game where players hit a feathered ball against each other with a board called hagoita. At home, Japanese children can stay up late playing koma (spinning tops) and card games like the picture game karuta or the classic game hyakunin isshu.
What Are Some Japanese New Year Traditions?
New Year is a big deal in Japan, and there are a lot of traditions to follow. After cleaning up the house, Japanese families decorate their homes with special items to bring in good luck. They eat special Japanese New Year's food, send out nengajo greeting cards to other families, and visit their shrine to pray for a good year of fortune ahead. Let’s get to learn all the different Japanese New Year traditions!
Joya No Kane (除夜の鐘)
One of Japan’s New Year traditions is joya no kane, one of the most important Buddhist temple rituals in Japan. At midnight on New Year's Eve, Buddhist temples ring their bells for 1-2 hours throughout dawn. The priests strike the bell exactly 108 times because Buddhists believe that people are plagued by 108 types of bono or earthly desires and feelings. Each strike is supposed to move one troubling bono!
Hatsuhinode (初日の出)
In Japanese, Hatsuhinode means “first sunrise.” This custom began when the emperor prayed to Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun the first day of the year. Eventually, the nobles in the Heian period followed it, and then during the Meiji period, everyone else in Japan followed. Now, a lot of people greet Amaterasu the first time she rises from the horizon!
To help people celebrate hatsuhinode, events are organized in special places around Japan. Shrines offer amazake (a fermented sweet rice drink with a thousand years of history), and beaches light wood fires to warm up crowds. Some of the best places to see the first sunrise are the Tokyo Skytree, Oarai Beach in Ibaraki prefecture, the Yoshimine-dera Temple in Kyoto, and Lake Motosu Park in the Five Lakes region of Japan.
Hatsumode (初詣)
Another very important tradition is hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year. During hatsumode, family and friends go to their local shrine to pray for a good year ahead. Some shrines sell food, lucky charms, and omikuji or fortune-telling strips of paper.
Omikuji fortunes go into a lot of detail, offering predictions about life, like business and love. If your omikuji predicts bad luck, you can tie it to a tree on the shrine grounds and hope that it doesn't come true!
Nengajo (年賀状)
While people in the US love sending cards during Christmas, the Japanese do it during the New Year. In Japan, these special New Year greeting cards are called nengajo while New Year postcards are called nenga-hagaki. The custom of sending them out is called nenga.
Though electronic messaging services have affected the Nenga tradition, the custom remains as strong as ever. In 2020 alone, it was estimated that Japan's postal service delivered more than two billion nengajo during New Year's. That's an average of 15 cards per person in Japan!
So, you might be wondering whom you send out cards to. While it's easy to say that you'd send nengajo to everyone you know, it's much better to send them to the people who really matter. After all, the purpose of the cards is to express gratitude to family, friends, and colleagues who've been good to you throughout the year. You can also send nengajo to people you want to reconnect with.
Interestingly enough, nengajo isn’t just for friendship. All nengajo cards have lottery numbers, and when they’re delivered, the recipient gets a prize! While some are small trinkets, other nengajo prizes can be expensive items like travel tickets and phones! Winning a nengajo prize really adds to your luck during the New Year.
Mochitsuki (餅つき)
Sticky, sweet, and chewy, mochi is one of the most popular desserts in Japan. Though it can be enjoyed all year round, it plays a pretty big role during New Year's. That’s because, to the Japanese, mochi symbolizes good health and fortune.
During the New Year season, between the end of December and the first week of January, communities in Japan gather together for mochitsuki. This is a traditional mochi-making ceremony where people pound glutinous rice with a huge wooden mallet!
Though some families in Japan just opt to buy mochi these days, lively communities still practice mochitsuki! It's so different when people gather together to help pound mochi. Even kids can join in the fun - though their parents have to keep a watchful eye so they don't get hurt.
When the mochi dough has been pounded to the right consistency, people take it to a table, coat it with mochitoriko flour, split it into portions, and then shape it. This special mochi can either be eaten on the spot or taken home for later!
Leftover New Year’s mochi is especially tasty when it’s grilled. It can also be used in ozoni, a special soup only eaten during New Year’s. There’s a whole lot of special food that Japanese people eat oshogatsu which you can read about in our blog about Japanese New Year’s food!
What Do Japanese People Wear During New Year's?
New Year's is extra special in Japan, that's why it's the best opportunity for Japanese people to put on their special attire called haregi kimono or ceremonial kimono. Though wearing a kimono isn't exactly a requirement these days, in the past the Japanese placed a lot of emphasis on the kimono worn for New Year's. Sometimes, they'd have new ones made especially for the celebration!
Many different types of kimono can be worn as haregi kimono in Japan. Unmarried women can wear furisodes, kimonos with long sleeves, and brightly colored patterns. Married women can wear tomesodes, elegant kimonos with patterns limited to the bottom part of the dress. Meanwhile, men can wear hakamas, which consist of traditional wide-legged trousers worn with a kimono outer layer.
What Is the Traditional Gift for Japanese New Year?
We shouldn’t forget about New Year’s gift-giving in Japan! Called otoshidama, this Japanese tradition is where parents, grandparents, and close relatives give small envelopes with cash to children. Usually, each envelope contains an average of 5,000 yen, but the amount gets bigger when the kids grow up.
At first, otoshidama started with rice cakes called kagami mochi. These treats were originally offered to the New Year deity, Toshigami-sama. Eventually, parents give these cakes to their children. Then, the cakes changed to small toys, and then it became money, a more practical gift.
Is Japanese New Year the Same as Chinese?
No, not at all. Sure, both Japan and China might focus on renewal and family during New Year's, but they celebrate at different times of the year. Japanese New Year follows the Gregorian Calendar and falls on January 1. Chinese New Year happens during the Lunar New Year, which falls around sometime between January 21 and February 20, depending on the year's lunar calendar.
That's not all. There are also a lot of different practices and traditions between the two. While Japanese New Year can last for days, Chinese New Year can last for around 2 weeks. Chinese New Year is also strongly associated with the Chinese Zodiac. Each year is influenced by the zodiac's characteristics. Japanese New Year, on the other hand, doesn't rely on the Chinese Zodiac at all.
Do the Japanese Celebrate Lunar New Year?
Unlike China and other Asian countries that celebrate the Lunar New Year, Japan mostly focuses on oshogatsu in January. However, there are Chinese and Korean communities in Japan that do celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The best places to celebrate Lunar New Year in Japan are in the three major chukagai or Chinatown areas of Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki. You'll also find Lunar New Year festivities in the Ryukyu islands of Japan, including Okinawa and Amami.
Where Are the Best Places to Be in Japan During New Year?
If you're in Tokyo in Japan during the new year, you can partake in hatsumode by visiting shrines and temples. The Meiji shrine is one of the most popular places in Tokyo during New Year since it stays open all night long for New Year's. Other popular shrines in Tokyo include the Yasukuni Shrine and the Asakusa Shrine, which attract many visitors around the area.
Some people also like celebrating New Year's in Kyoto because of the cultural experience. There are a ton of shrines in Kyoto city including the Chion-in Temple and the Yasaka shrine. If you head to Yasaka Shrine, you can get a cord of a special dried plant to light up with the holy flame from a lantern at the shrine. Then you bring it back home to cook New Year's soup and wish for a good year!
Phew! There you have it! We’ve learned everything there is to know about New Year’s in Japan, and now you’re more than ready to celebrate oshagatsu just like a local. What do you like most about Japanese New Year? Are you excited about the idea of visiting shrines or hatsomode? What osechi would you like to try the most?
Don’t be shy and share your Japanese New Year’s experience with us. Let us know what you think of oshogatsu in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!
