Japan celebrates New Year with unique traditions

The people of Japan rang in the New Year over the weekend by observing customs that go back centuries, along with rituals that are far more recent, yet just as much a part of the occasion. 

As a predominantly Buddhist nation, Christmas is not a religious holiday in Japan and is typically a regular working day. Instead, Christmas is a time for couples to go on a date together and young children to receive gifts from Santa Claus.

Family celebrations are saved for one week later. Between New Year's Day and January 3, most businesses shut down.

The run-up to the Japanese New Year, called "O-shogatsu," is a busy period.  Businesses try to complete as many tasks as possible before the end of the year, and employees spend a good deal of their winter bonuses on "bonenkai" year-end parties with colleagues and friends.

Schoolchildren, meanwhile, spend the last couple of days before the holidays cleaning their classrooms.

Holiday travel rush packs planes, trains

The next phase of the holidays is the mass exodus from Japan's big cities to towns across the country for celebrations with extended families.

The rush to depart began on the evening of December 29, with trains, planes and roads packed with travelers. Japan Railways reported that its bullet trains to northern Japan were operating at 150% capacity, meaning that every seat had been booked and half the passengers were standing on long-distance services. 

Airlines similarly reported that the number of flights and seat bookings were back to levels not seen since before the coronavirus pandemic. 

On the roads, authorities warned of long traffic jams. On December 30, vehicles were reported to be at a 23-kilometer (14-mile) standstill on the Kan-Etsu Expressway in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. 

"We have traveled by car in previous years, but we decided to fly this year because the traffic just becomes too much," said Kiyoko Date, who left Yokohama for her hometown in Kyushu on the afternoon of December 30 with her husband and two children. 

"Prices always go up at this time of year, but it is important to get home for 'o-shogatsu' and spend time with my mother and the rest of the family," she said.

"It is only for a few days — I have to go back to work on Wednesday — but I do love being at home at this time of year and catching up with what everyone has been doing."

Traditional New Year's customs still cherished

Known as "Omisoka," Japan's New Year's Eve is a time for families to enjoy a special meal, often consisting of "toshikoshi" noodles, which symbolize a long and healthy life. The meal is usually accompanied by a broadcast of a musical event, "Kohaku uta Gassen," or "the red and white singing battle."

First broadcast in 1951, the four-hour program pits the red team of female singers and performers against the men of the white team. And while the show's appeal has diminished in recent years, it remains a staple of New Year's Eve. 

The victorious team is announced about 15 minutes before midnight, giving people sufficient time to shrug into their warm clothes and head to their local shrine, where a flaming brazier and hot sake will keep people warm as they line up to communicate their prayers for the coming year to the gods. 

Many Japanese brave the cold again to greet the first dawn of the New Year, an appropriate way to welcome the passing of time in the land of the rising sun.

"My family always goes to the beach at Enoshima for the first sunrise," said Yae Oono, from Kawasaki City, just south of Tokyo. "It was something that we always did when my father was alive and now it's something that I like to do with my own children."

"We all live very busy lives now, with work and college and everything else, so I make sure that we spend New Year together every year," she said. "To me, it's important."

The traditional New Year's Day meal is known as "osechi ryori," a range of dishes that are usually prepared in advance — or ordered — and eaten cold to minimize work.

These colorful dishes are designed to represent the bounty of both the land and sea and are meant to bring good fortune in the year ahead. 

Simmered black soybeans are believed to encourage diligence and good health, while sardines prepared in a sweet soy sauce are a throwback to when sardines were used as fertilizer for rice paddies.

Other common dishes include herring roe, and red and white "kamaboko" seafood paste that is auspicious and reminiscent of the first sunrise of the year.

Emperor expresses 'hope' for people around the world 

The emperor and empress received formal New Year greetings from other members of the imperial family on January 1, and made a public appearance, although the ceremonies were scaled back due to lingering concerns about the pandemic. 

In a statement, the emperor expressed "hope" for people around the world in the New Year, and conveyed "deep sadness for the many lives lost" due to coronavirus and conflicts around the world. 

Emphasizing the "importance of peace," the emperor added, "I strongly feel the importance of repeatedly holding dialogue to overcome differences in stances and working together with others in the international community."

One of the final spectacles of the New Year celebrations is the two-day relay marathon for university teams that started in central Tokyo on Monday. Teams of 10 runners each were cheered on along the 110-kilometer course to the mountain town of Hakone, with the return leg scheduled for Tuesday. 

Most Japanese will return to work on Wednesday, although many will continue to pay their respects at shrines and temples throughout the week.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn