New Years Eve in Japan

Here in the UK, you don't really so much for New Years Eve apart for staying up until midnight. However in Japan, New Years Day is a very important time.

New Years Eve

• The japanese word for New Years Eve is 大晦日 (ōmisoka)
• Running up to this day, people will be cleaning their houses. This is to purify the house and welcome the God of the Coming New Year who is called 年神様 (toshigami-sama)
• Some people decorate their houses for New Years Day. I made an origami wreath and some origami decorations

New Year's day wreath

Kadomatsu 門松

Not many people in Japan set up a kadomatsu because of the lack of space outside of the house. It is seen as just a decoration. However, I have found some information on how and when you should set up a kadomatsu if at all possible. 

• This is a decoration made out of bamboo sticks and pine branches.
• The kadomatsu is placed in front of the house to welcome spirits and Toshigami-sama into the house
• You must set the kadomatsu up or the god Toshigami-sama will not enter the house and bring happiness
• The word literally means pine gate (門-gate 松-pine)
• You should not set it up on the 31st December because it is impolite and implies that you have rushed through the process and finished it at the last minute
• Also you should not set it up on the 29th December because it is considered an unlucky day
• You can take the decorations down from the 7th January. However, you should'nt take the decorations down before then because Toshigami-sama stays until the 7th so it would be considered impolite

Kadomatsu
By Nesnad (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Kagamimochi 鏡餅

• Kagamimochi is a decoration made out of two rice cake balls and an orange. The largest rice cake ball goes on the bottom, then the smaller rice cake ball goes on top and then finally, the orange goes on the top.
• The name literally translates as Mirror rice ball because it looks like an old round hand mirror.
• They are supposed to be placed around the house, each area of the house has a corresponding Shinto God.
• You can easily buy kagamimochi covered in plastic from the supermarket. It needs to be protected with plastic otherwise it spoils easily.
• On the 11th January, you can eat it. This day is called the Kagami biraki which literally means openening the mirror
• The mochi is then broken and eaten in a soup.

Kagamimochi
By Juni from Kyoto, Japan (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Toshikoshisoba 年越し蕎麦

• This is the food that is eaten on the day before New Years day
• Buckwheat noodles are usually eaten hot on this day but the toppings can vary.
• What my family has is vegetables and prawns fried in tempura.

The toshikoshi soba that we had

I hope that you have a brilliant New Year! Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

Christmas in Japan-Food

The food is one of the things that people look forward to at Christmas. And Japan is no exception.

Food

• As most Japanese kitchens do not have ovens, Japanese people do not have turkeys at Christmas. The largest oven that people would have would be an oven toaster. Instead, they have a chicken dinner from KFC

KFC store in Ikebukuro
By kici (-) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

• This is because, in the 1970's, a customer in KFC's Aoyama store supposedly mentioned how there was no turkey available in Japan so fried chicken was the next closest thing at Christmas. 
• Which led to an advertising campaign called 'Kentucky for Christmas. This was a huge success in Japan which also started the tradition of having Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas
• Every Christmas, there are huge queues outside shops and some people also reserve food so they do not miss out.
• Also Japanese people have Christmas cake as well.
• It is usually a sponge cake covered in cream and strawberries. Occasionally it can be a Yule log.
• The Christmas cake is a symbol of commercialism and prosperity. 
• In World War 2, American soldiers helped to rebuild Japan. The economy was is a desolate state and food shortages were common.
• To help the people, sweets were handed out by the American soldiers. Sweets were considered a  luxury to the people
• Japan then embraced an American Christmas.
• Sponge cakes could have been made since the 17th century but the sugar, butter and milk were considered a luxury
• After the war, the economy improved and these ingredients became widely available for people to make sponge cakes
• The colours are symbolic, red and white reflect the colours of the Japanese flag.
• This is a picture of the yule log that I made for Christmas this year.

Fun fact: There is even a Christmas sponge cake emoji!

Christmas sponge cake emoji

The next big event for Japanese people in New years eve and day. I will be uploading posts about them soon! メリークリスマス！

Christmas in Japan- Christmas trees!

Merry Christmas or Happy Hannukah everyone! I'm going to be writing about Christmas in Japan.
This post is just going to mention some facts about Christmas trees.
Here we go!

Christmas

• As only 1% of Japan is Christian, very few people understand the Christian meaning of Christmas
• Christmas is viewed as a time to spread joy rather than a religious celebration

Christmas trees

• Many people do not have enough space in their house to have a real tree, however if you are looking for one, you can go to IKEA in Japan to purchase a 100-120cm tree
• You can find fake trees in many shops. Some come with decorations and lights but they tend to be expensive. Loft and Tokyu Hands are just some examples of places where you can get one
• You can also make your own decorations, when trees were first introduced to Japan by Christian Missionaries, they were decorated with origami figures, paper lanterns and paper fans for example
• In the 1920s, Japan became the main manufacturer of Christmas decorations made in the Western style.
• The artificial tree with the most illuminations in the world was in Osaka 2014. It was in Universal Studios Japan
• It has 364200 illuminations 
• However, the record was broken by Australian David Richards with 518838 lights in November 2015
• Some other strange Christmas trees include; trees made out of oranges, soft toys, rocks, gold and scrubbing brushes

Christmas tree made out of soft toys
By Tokumeigakarinoaoshima (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Golden Christmas tree in Ginza Takana jewelry store in Ginza, Tokyo. It is about 2.4m high and it is made out of 12 kg of gold. It is worth 150 million yen but it is not for sale
By NJo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Even Narita airport has a Christmas tree
By Nanashinodensyaku (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Click here to see some images of some Japanese Christmas trees

I hope that you enjoyed this post, I will next be writing about other aspects of Christmas. If you would like me to write about something in particular, please say so in the comments. メリークリスマス！