Japanese New Year

Greetings:
Shinnen omede tou gozaimasu!
Sakunen wa taihen osewani narimashita,
Kotoshimo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

 
A Happy New Year!
I want to express my thanks and appreciation for your help over the past year.
It would be most welcome if I could have the same help in the coming year.

Background
There are two important traditional holidays in Japan observed by the business world: New Year (shôgatsu = ( first month of the year) on the 1st of January and the Buddhist Obon celebration ( in honour of the ancestors) in the middle of July or August. On both occasions business partners exchange greeting cards and presents. The cherry blossom festival (hanami) however, only requires good wishes at the end of a phone call or an email.

Japan is a very tradition-conscious society. Notwithstanding modern development, Japanese remain faithful to their deeply rooted values. They have an extremely highly developed emotional intelligence and are very receptive to different vibes from their personal environment. Both celebrations are symbols of the profound Japanese ideology. Against the background of Shintoism and Buddhism which both have great influence on Japanese thinking and behavior; they symbolize the connection of birth and death and the life cycle from start to end with the New Year as a new beginning. The Obon celebration is dedicated to the ancestors.

Once upon a time the celebration of New Year was determined by the lunar calendar. Until the Meiji-age (1868-1912) Japan, China and Korea celebrated New Year on the same day. Since the Meiji-Restoration when the nation was modernized Western-style, it also adapted the Western calendar and since 1873 New Year is celebrates on the 1st of January as in Europe.

There are however some speculations about the true reasons of this adaptation. Rumour has it that it was in reality an austerity measure by the government. The reform was very expensive and the resources of the treasury slowly ran dry. Lacking new ideas to make money, the government pondered other possible ways. According to the lunar calendar every few years there is a year with thirteen months - 1873 was such a year. The government wanted to save the thirteenth salary for all civil servants and without further ado they introduced the Western calendar on the 1 January 1873.
 

How do the Japanese celebrate New Year?
The celebration of New Year is mostly very traditional and family oriented. The yearly big house cleaning starts one or two weeks in advance. Not only homes but offices and schools as well undergo a thorough cleaning procedure. The dust of the old year is swept out so that the New Year will have a clean start. After the clean-up one puts up symbols of good luck for example Kagami-Mocchi for the Shinto-Gods in the room (two rice cakes on top of each other with a bitter orange as a finale and matsu kazari ( a pine decorated with flowers) left and right of the door.

New Year is a three day celebration. On principle there is no cooking so that mothers and house wives don't have to stay in the kitchen and the entire family can celebrate together. Therefore housewives pre-cook the New Year's dishes (Osechi-Ryori) for three days in advance. Osechi-Ryori consists of a vast variety of cold dishes such as fish, vegetables, eggs, kelp and rice which are beautifully and artfully arranged in a big lacquered container. Before the beginning of New Year countless Osechi-containers are stashed on top of each other in every kitchen as each family member gets their own container for each of the three days. Nowadays supermarkets offer a huge variety of precooked Osechi-Ryori. It saves a lot of tiring work in the kitchen and many Japanese just go there to buy the food.

 Osechi-Ryori
 

On the night of New Year's Eve, families gather in front of television to watch the traditional song competition "Kohaku Uta Gasse" of NKH. It's broadcasted every year, lasts four hours and is a contest of female singers of the 'Red-Group' against their male counterparts of the 'White-Group' who sing the "Best of Songs" of the year. It's a great honor to participate in the Kohaku where only the most famous singers are invited. After the show it's time to eat Soba-noodles as a symbol of longevity, just before starting the count-down to the New Year.

Exactly at 12 midnight all Buddhist temples ring the bell 108 times to symbolically banish the 108 Buddhist sins. All Japanese who are still able to do so hit the road now, not to go to the temples but to the various shrines to pray for good luck. The perfect interaction of different religions strengthens the feeling of harmony and ensures twice as much luck. The next morning those who already recovered from New Year's night get up early to visit the shrine before breakfast.

Japanese often worship a special shrine of a special God. Normally one prays for luck and health so that the New Year will be peaceful. One writes a wish on a little wooden panel (wishing panels) and hangs it at the shrine so that the gods will grant the wishes.

An open fire is lit in the yard of the shrine. Visitors throw old tarisma in the fire to say farewell to the old year and to cleanse themselves from past misfortune. Only in a shrine can one get tarismas which are pocket book sized lucky charms made from cloth and paper. Each contains a fortune note. One takes the new tarismas back home and hides them on the home altar for the coming year. Some Japanese also bring dried squid to the shrine where they collectively barbecue it on the fire in the yard. One divides the squid by hand in strips and eats it standing up which is said to bring good luck.

A New Year signifies a new beginning. 86 percent of Japanese are Shintoists and 73 percent Buddhists. Therefore there can never be enough luck and by performing the proper deeds they try from day one to steer the New Year on a lucky path. One drinks ama-sake, visits a shrine or temple (hatsu-mode) witnesses the first sunrise and similar activities. Hatsu-yume (the first dream) of the Fuji-mountain, a falcon or an eggplant signifies an especially good omen. Japanese believe that such dream contents are indicators of an extraordinary good year. The Japanese word for eggplant is nasu which also means 'success' and 'to get something done'. A dream of several eggplants is therefore extremely promising.

On the first day of the New Year parents and relatives give money as a present to the children (Otoshidama). For all children this is the lucky day when they can collect a big amount of money according to the quantity of relatives. Toddlers and pre-schoolers get between 300 and 500 Yen (exchange rate: 1Euro=around 100 Yen). The amount increases for first to third graders to between 1000 and 3000 Yen, forth graders and older children get between 3000 and 4000 Yen and university students might receive up to 30,000 Yen (Euro 300). The quoted amounts apply per relative and can vary according to the financial situation of the person concerned. As soon as the children go to work they offer their parents little money gifts as an expression of gratitude.
 

What significance does the festival have in the business world?
How should you handle it?
Forget the idea of paying a visit to your Japanese partner over Christmas or even celebrate New Year's Eve in Japan. All businesses close from the 31 December, 1 and 2 January are for families and rest. On the third day of the New Year Japanese pay a visit to relatives, friends and neighbours to exchange good wishes or the entire family goes shopping together; everyday life resumes on 4 January. Many younger Japanese use this period to travel abroad for one week. The safest way would be to plan your visit to Japan from 7 January, otherwise you might spend your days very quietly in your hotel room watching "Kohaku Uta Gasse" and other New Year's programs and in the evening walk the deserted streets of Tokyo.

Japanese employees receive a bonus in December similar to a European thirteenth salary. As their salary is normally quite low the bonus is very generous and should at least be the sum of three monthly salaries.

The maintenance of personal contacts with customers and business partners is of great importance for Japanese and on that occasion they exchange greeting cards and gifts. Young people tend to exchange electronic greeting cards and text messages. Despite this trend the amount of Nengajo (conventional greeting cards) is not decreasing. Japanese send over two billion New Year's greeting cards every year to customers, superiors, seniors, teachers (also former teachers), colleagues (also former colleagues), relatives and friends. Gifts are normally cured food items such as kelp.

Join in! Send cards with hand written greetings to your Japanese business partners and colleagues in time. They will appreciate it very much. An email with greetings is not quite as effective as a hand written New Year's card but it's the least you should do. However it should be a special New Year's email. By no means add your greetings in the end of a normal mail. First you should write your personal message and then add the following greetings:
"Shinnen omede tou gozaimasu!"
"Sakunen wa taihen osewani narimashita,
Kotoshimo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu."
(Translation in the beginning of this text)

At the beginning of December you could if you like send a 'Thank You' card or email your Japanese business partners and colleagues thanking them for their trust and good cooperation in the past year. You have to send this mail by middle of December. Japanese do the same as a symbol of a lucky year's end.

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