Happy New Year from Japan

tournament of the hyakunin issho, the hundred poems game from the Heian Era (794-1185), held in Kyoto on Jan. 3 featuring Heian Era kimono-clad women slapping at cards the size of baseball cards on the tatami floor. And finally, I dare not forget to mention nengajo, the duty-bound sending of New Year’s postcards to everybody who sent one to you (or anybody you want to snare into having to send you one for the rest of your life by springing one on them). These cards are often quite beautiful, almost always feature that year's Chinese zodiac animal and run the gamut from the traditional and the hand-painted, to the very modern and store-bought.

Thank you for taking the time to read this somewhat lengthy article on Japanese New Year celebrations. In closing, let me wish you a happy New Year the Japanese way by saying, “Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu.” This means “congratulations on its having opened” (meaning the new year) and can only be used after Jan. 1. Before Jan. 1, you say “Yoi otoshi yo,” which means, simply “a good year to you!”

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