By ANTONIO KOTARO HAYATA, Discover Nikkei
Another year is starting! Usually, it is time to reflect on how the year went, on everything we’ve done, good or bad, planning new plans, wishes and promises for the new year. I believe this should not be different for anyone around the world, regardless of culture and religion.
However, the way of celebrating New Year’s is certainly different in each country; also for me, it is different when I was in Brazil and now in Japan.
In Brazil, generally Christmas was celebrated with family and New Year’s with friends. In my family, however, both Christmas and New Year’s are celebrated with family.
Family here has a broader meaning, which includes not only parents, brothers, wife, daughters, sisters, nephews, and nieces, but also grandfathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and other distant relatives. I think this comes from the influence of Latin and Christian culture that everything turns into a big family reunion.
Every year, the new year of Nikkei Brazilian family begins on the morning of the 31st, watching the “Kouhaku Uta Gassen” (Japanese red and white song battle) that airs on NHK World at each house. In the evening, my relatives came to my house with food and sweets, and by about 8 p.m. they all gathered at my house.
On the big table, all food brought by relatives and dishes made by my mother were put on. We have not only Japanese foods, such as sushi, sashimi, and osekihan (red rice with azuki beans), but also traditional Brazilian celebration food, such as roasted turkey, pork, and others. It was my family tradition to never lack of food on the table. I’m not sure where this came from, but I think it is the same for any family.
Another tradition was wearing white clothes, which means peace, combined with other color cloth or ornaments (earrings, brooches, bangles, etc.) to symbolize another desire such as yellow for money or green for hope, etc.
Also, when I was a kid, I remembered watching “Kouhaku Uta Gassen” in a TV program called “Images of Japan.” Perhaps Nikkei over 40 have some memories of watching this show with their grandma and grandpa every Sunday when they were kids.
At midnight, we all count down together. Then, at the beginning of the year, we toast and hug each other, and each one gets fireworks to celebrate the new year. At this time, although it has already been eaten a lot, toshikoshi soba, whcih is indispensable for the new year, is served.
After that, the aunts start cleaning up, while children continue to play karuta until the morning. Then, on New Year’s Day, we ate the ozoni and foods left over from the night before, and spent the whole day with my family.
From New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day, everyone talks, eats, and drinks with a lot of laughs. For me, New Year’s Day in Brazil was a day when my family got together and enjoyed talking.
And now, living in Japan, Oshogatsu is celebrated in a different way. It is calm and quiet with my wife, daughters, parents-in-law, brothers-in-law and their children.
Our family’s New Year’s in Japan begins with an onsen (hot spring) trip at the end of the year. Usually, from Dec. 29 or 30, my family, my brother-in-law’s family, and my parents-in-law go to the onsen. Children play with their cousins and we adults take the time enjoying delicious food and drinks, and return home on the 31st.
Thankfully, my spouse’s grandmother, who stayed at home, prepared New Year’s dishes, and the whole family celebrated the New Year’s on the 1st.
In the past in Japan, almost every shop and restaurant were closed until Jan. 4, so I had to spend three days at home, but it didn’t really matter to us. Recently, we all take a walk in the town. Even if you find an open shop or restaurant, everyone doesn’t stop by, but the only thing we buy is a fukubukuro (lucky bag) filled with various surprise items — you don’t know what’s inside.
A traditional event in Japan is to watch the hatsu-hinode (first sunrise). People stay up until they watch the first sunrise of the new year. I’ve done it once, but now it’s so hard.
Also, it seems that many people go to the shrine from midnight to the beginning of the year on New Year’s Eve.
When I came here to study in Japan (ryugaku), I once walked from Ebisu to Harajuku stations with my school friends at dawn. We saw a lot of people going to Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) on the way, so we followed them. I thought I’d turn back after seeing a huge crowd of people going to the hall of worship, but it was too late. We were already stuck in the crowd, so we went to worship.
It was a great experience, but I don’t want to do it again. It may be a good idea to visit another shrine on the evening of New Year’s Day or the 2nd, when the shrines were not that crowded.
Since I love marathons, I am looking forward to Jan. 2 and 3, when the Hakone Ekiden is happening. It’s the relay marathon by university student teams, running a 217-kilometer route between Tokyo and Hanoke.
However, the best memories of Oshogatsu in my family were in 1999/2000 in New York at Times Square and 2000/2001 in Paris on the Champs Elysees, both among people from different corners of the planet in a loud chorus counting down. Especially in Paris, I will never forget it because I met my childhood friend, whom I married.
What has changed recently? I believe that thanks to the Internet, it became possible to communicate at any time, and family and friends can be closer even if they are far away. We can also watch online the countdowns all over the world, and enjoy again that feeling of being together again in Paris or in New York
If you are going to spend this New Year’s with a big family like I used to do in Brazil, lucky you, please enjoy! If you are going to spend it in a more quiet, reflective way, that’s amazing too.
But what remains the same now and in the past is the hopes and expectations that the coming year will be a better one.
Happy New Year!