I like the Japanese new year’s atmosphere.
In winter, it is usually sunny in Japan.
Therefore you can feel that it’s beautiful to spend time in Japan, especially during the new year holiday season.
New year in Japan
For students, it is winter vacation from around 23rd December to 7th January.
For workers, it is company holiday from around 30th to 3rd January.
Before 31st December, my family cleaned the house more than usual.
Japanese traditional food Toshikoshi-Soba
On 31st December, most people in Japan eat noodles which is Soba.
I prefer Udon so my family members eat Soba or Udon.
Toshikoshi-Soba is “year-crossing noodle” in Japan.
We eat Toshikoshi Soba on 31st December.
Japanese people call 31st December “Oomisoka” in Japan.
On 1st January, Japanese people eat Zouni which is rice cakes in it traditionally.
Osechi is also a traditional Japanese new year’s meal but I’m not a big fan of it.
Osechi has a lot of dishes and it has the meaning of good luck.
Hatsumoude
When I was in Japan, I used to visit the nearest shrine to my home in my town with my grandmother around 11:45 p.m. on 31st December.
Many local people were there.
We play, drink Sake and eat Oden.
You can also get Satsuma oranges and snacks to take away.
There is a big camping fire there so that you can eat Oden near here.
Oden is Japanese food, consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light soy-flavored dashi soup.
Someone starts counting down and when new year comes, we say “Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu” which means happy new year.
Otoshidama
Otoshidama is a gift envelope with money in it.
Grandmother, parents and uncles and aunts gave Otoshidama to me when I was a child.
Also, I gave Otoshidama to my cousin’s children.
Amount of money to give is up to you but when children get grown, the amount should be more and more.
Hastuhinode
Hatsu-hinode is to see the sunrise on 1st January.
I saw Hatsu-hinode for the first time with my sister in 2016.
We drove to the mountain in the early morning around 4:00a.m. to find a parking place because the place is popular even though it is very local.
We could see the sunrise around 7:00 a.m. on 1st January and we felt that the sun goes fast.
When the sun went up, people prayed to the sun for seconds.
Traditional toys in the new year
There are some traditional plays as Koma, Hagoita, Tako age and Karuta etc.
Koma is Japanese spinning Tops made of wood.
Hagoita is the wooden paddles used to hit shuttlecocks.
Tako age is kite.
Karuta is a Japanese card game.
New year holidays in Germany (Silvester)
I would say that New year in Germany is not very special compared to Christmas holiday.
To drink sparkling wine and do fireworks at new year is a normal way to celebrate in Germany.