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May 02, 2024
 

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O SHOGATSU

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Dec 14, 2019
Whether it's sweet or savory, zōni soup is a new year mainstay
For centuries, mochi rice cakes have been a part of festive occasions in Japan, especially during the new year holidays. A hearty zu014dni soup is one classic way to incorporate mochi into your new year meal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Kateigaho International Japan Edition
Dec 14, 2019
Mizuhiki: Paper with a spiritual twist
Mizuhiki are an indispensable part of the country's new year celebrations, embodying people's hopes and prayers for the 12 months ahead.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2019
Tokyo's Shibuya Ward bans drinking in some areas for Halloween and New Year's
The Shibuya Ward Assembly approved an ordinance Wednesday banning the consumption of alcohol on some of the area's streets and parks during Halloween and New Year's events to address an increasing number of incidents by rowdy partygoers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2019
IN PICTURES: Japan says good night to 2018, good morning to 2019
Japan greeted 2019 — the year of the boar, according to the Chinese astrological calendar — Monday evening and Tuesday morning with traditional visits to both major and minor temples and not-so-traditional events, such as the massive one at the famous Shibuya Crossing, where thousands gathered to shout the countdown displayed on digital signboards.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / New Year Special 2019
Jan 1, 2019
Traditional activities to ring in the new year
Shogatsu, or New Year's holidays, are a special time for Japanese, who typically revisit and take part in long-standing traditions. It's a time when those who left their hometowns go back to visit their families, invite relatives and friends to their homes and wear kimono. It's also a time for foreigners spending the holidays in Japan to get a taste of the country's traditions. Below are some of the traditions Japanese participate in over the New Year's holidays.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 31, 2018
In Japanese, you can express your new year tidings in more ways than one
New Year's Day is a major holiday in Japan, but the date for it hasn't always been in January.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 30, 2018
Celebrating New Year's the island way
On the small island where I live in the middle of Japan's Seto Inland Sea, new year celebrations are stalwart traditional. Preparations start a week before when the holiday spirit wafts in on sea breezes tinted with chilling temperatures. The island holds a community rice-pounding event to make kagami mochi adornments for inside our homes and a few businesses set out classic kadomatsu displays — bamboo and pine branches engaged with a shimenawa rope — outside their doors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Dec 17, 2018
Let's discuss new year cards
Once a tradition firmly entrenched in the national consciousness, the nengaju014d (new year card) is facing extinction.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Dec 15, 2018
Don't go to the store, make your own New Year's feast instead
The style of osechi (New Year's food) that is popular today is an array of salty, sweet or sour foods made in advance to give the cook of the house a break during the New Year period.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 8, 2018
Enthusiasm over new year cards wanes as online options grow
Once a tradition firmly entrenched in the national consciousness, the nengajō (new year cards) is facing extinction.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 6, 2018
Counting down to the Year of the Boar: Festivals, foxes and fireworks welcome 2019 in Tokyo
With the end of the year drawing closer, the pressure is on to figure out how to greet the Year of the Boar. If the dwindling number of viewers staying in to watch NHK's annual music showcase "Kohaku Uta Gassen" is any indication, more and more people in the Kanto region are choosing to head out for less traditional celebrations. There are plenty of things going on to kiss 2018 goodbye and start 2019 off right, but be sure to make plans now because many of these events tend to sell out quickly.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Dec 1, 2018
Clean with envy
'I'm psyching myself up to clean the apartment for the end of the year.'
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2018
Traditional events to welcome Year of the Dog
For many city dwellers, the beginning of the year is a time to rest the body and the soul — be it at home or at an onsen (hot spring) resort — but for others, it's a perfect time to go out and enjoy themselves on the town.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2018
How Japan greeted the dawn of 2018
Japan was in a festive mood Monday to celebrate the new year as 2018 was greeted with sunrise viewing parties and crowd control.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN PICTURES
Jan 1, 2018
The annual rites of passage into the new year
On Sunday, people across Japan marked the passing of 2017 and the arrival of the new year at temples and shrines, both big and small.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 29, 2017
Here comes the sun: Recommended hatsuhinode spots
The first sunrise of the new year represents a chance for a new beginning and so it's hardly surprising that some once viewed the first rays of the sun on Jan. 1 with special reverence. It was believed to be the moment that Toshigami, god of the new year, descends from heaven and bestows happiness on all the common folk below for the year ahead.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 25, 2017
The year-end flurry of mops and madness
Oh no, it's 'osoji' season!
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Dec 23, 2017
Enthusiasm over new year cards comes in many shapes and forms
'Do you have those ¥18 stamps to send New Year's postcards abroad?'
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Jan 5, 2017
A new year, a new prayer, and hopefully luck
New Year's Day is not just the first day of the year in this country — it has a special meaning.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2017
2017 rings in across Japan as shrine, temple throngs pray for good year
As people across Japan celebrated the turn of the year, they flocked to shrines and temples Sunday morning for their traditional hatsumode pilgrimage to make a fresh start on New Year's Day.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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