Japan's New Year

There is a Japanese custom at New Year's for adults within a family (parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles) to give money to the children. This gift is called otoshidama. The money comes in an envelope. The envelope can be flowery, comical, ornamental. It is up to the giver.

The envelope above was one of the two otoshidama given by my Japanese in-laws to their grandsons. A tiger is on the envelope as 2022 is the Year of the Tiger.

There are some interesting things to note about New Year's in Japan.

At many temples on New Year's Eve, a bell will be rung 108 times, 107 times in the old year and once in the new year to rid people of last year's woes.
Many Japanese companies have an end of year party called Bonenkai. This translates as "Forget-the-year party." Related to this is the Japanese custom of being able to criticize your boss after both of you have had alcohol. This is acceptable at a bonenkai.
As soon as people return to work in January, the company has a Shinnenkai or "New Year's Party."
There is a term called Shogatsu Boke that refers to people being out of sorts the first couple of days back to work. The word Shogatsu is another word for "New Year." The word Boke translates as "idiot."
Japanese people send out New Year's postcards the same way western cultures send out Christmas cards. Most of the post cards, called nengajyo, have a lottery number on them and there is a country-wide drawing for cash and prizes.
There is a New Year's soup called ozoni. It contains rice cakes and regional food items.
As many stores are closed at New Year's, food is prepared/bought in sufficient quantities to last for a few days. To explain all the foods would be a long column. However, my wife always prepares a combination of food from below ground, from above ground, and from the sea.

One more note, Japan shifted to the Gregorian calendar (the typical Western calendar) on January 1, 1893.

Ringing in Adulthood

This is being sent on the second Monday of January. In Japan, the second Monday of January is a national holiday called "Coming of Age Day." The day commemorates those who have or will turn 20 between April 2 of the prior year and April 1 of the current year. It is the official age of adulthood in Japanese society.

On this day, women wear a traditional kimono. As kimonos can cost thousands of dollars, a lot of them are rented. Women also have their hair done over the weekend to get ready. Men wear western-style formal wear or a traditional men's kimono. The picture above shows some examples. (Missing from this photo are the well-dressed parents taking the pictures.)

What is seen as an adult in Japan, though, is constantly evolving. A few years ago, the voting age in Japan dropped from 20 to 18. Beginning April 1 of this year, the age for marriage without parental consent and also getting loans or credit cards will drop from 20 to 18. However, one will still need to be 20 to engage in drinking, smoking, and gambling.

As a side note for those interested, the types of legal gambling are limited to racing (horses, bicycles, auto, and motorcycles), the lottery, some online betting, and pachinko. Supposedly, casinos were approved a few years ago, but the regulations are so onerous one hasn't been opened yet.

The above image is from flickr.com.

On February 3, I am a scheduled guest on the SiriusXM radio show Seize the Day on The Catholic Channel (Ch. 129). The topic will be Japanese Christian samurai Takayama Ukon. I will be on for about 15 minutes during the 8:00 - 9:00 am hour (US East Coast time) and then again in the rebroadcast from 11:00 - noon (US East Coast time). Please tune in.

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