"oshougatsu". Actually, the word is "shougatsu" but the "o" ahead of it is added on to signify that it's important. "shougatsu" itself means New Year's but the kanji for "shou" is the same as the kanji for "tadashii" which means correct, while the kanji for "gatsu" is same as the one that means month so...... I really don't know what exactly it means, just that the two words together means New Year's.
And, as it probably expect from a culture found halfway across the world, the way it's celebrated is slightly different. In fact, the whole idea of Christmas and New Year's doesn't really work the same way. As I said before, Christmas is mostly commercial and it's not uncommon for people to be going to work. In the Western world, it's rather family oriented.
Conversely, New Year's has a "go out and party" feel where in Japan, mostly everyone travels back to their hometown (which is, for all intents and purposes, where their mother is from/still lives) to spend the New Year with their family.
So it stands to think that going out on New Year's should be a night out with a bunch of foreigners. And that's exactly what it is.
I should say, first off, that I had no plan. Nor did I go with anyone for most of the people I know either are "too old to go out", "have families", or went back to their hometown. I just got myself a list of clubs/bars/lounges, found the areas which have the most (that would be Shibuya and Roppongi- youth party culture central), and decided to just go, meet some people, and play it by ear.
10:00pm- I decided to go to Shibuya because one club I picked at random was there. The only problem is that Tokyo is a place of limited space, so many clubs are, literally, underground with small signs telling you where they are. But, as luck with have it, some Americans (who thought I was Japanese........... sigh) were asking about the same place. And we all went looking for it.
10:30pm- It turns out they're all US Navy sailors stationed in Japan- what're the odds. The club we went to was called Club Pure and it was smalled and packed. You also get a plastic cup when you go in because the drinks are free!
2:00am- I left to go to another place I saw in my search earlier that night and halfway down the street, some girl (named Mariko........ what're the odds haha) asked me if she knew me and we were just at the same bar together.
"Hmm........ I don't think so haha......"
I thought that walking in the total opposite direction would've tipped her off but oh well........
2:01am- Her boyfriend then came up, professed his love for me, hugged me, and then ran off to hug someone else.......
2:02am- She then invited me to join her group which was a mix of half Japanese half umm........ not Japanese university students, musicians, artists, and probably other things I didn't find out. We went on a search for food but it mostly ended up as loitering and chatting as everyone was calling everyone else to find out what to do.
3:15am- We ended up in Roppongi, loitering some more. It was at this point that it struck me just how Western an idea it is to celebrate New Year's out on the town because Roppongi had more foreigners than Japanese people. To be honest, most of the Japanese people there were working the places serving all the partying foreigners.
5:00am- After hanging out at a Starbucks (where we met some Brazilians), we wandered into a bar right as they were closing........ at 5am. It was around now that people started falling asleep so, slowly, the party started to break up and we all went home.
Apparently, if you wish to do so, you could party like this every night since all the places are open til 5am. But if you do so, I might recommend not hanging around as it gets light outside, especially on New Year's. It's great fun to stand outside in the growing sunlight laughing about all the crazy things that happened just a few hours ago, and watching the sky turn blue behind a fully lit Tokyo Tower is awesome, but when you turn to walk away, the dirtiness of the street is just digusting.
It looks like landfill exploded over the city partly because drunk people tend not to think and also because garbage cans are actually rather few and far between in Japan. The latter point is really annoying........ unless you're a pigeon, then New Year's day is quite the feast.
Aside from that though, it was a great night out. People are friendly on New Year's Eve but being in a foreign country, I think it bands people together much more so which is probably why it was so easy to make new friends. So thank you "oshougatsu".
And Happy New Year to everyone too!! Let's make the best of 2008!
PS- Sorry, no pictures though haha...... I didn't bring my camera.
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8 comments:
Great account of the Kanji. In fact, "Correct" means "FIRST" and your are right for the Month part. This is the Japanese version of the Chinese New Year. They used to follow the lunar calender as the Chinese, but later changed to 1st of Jan as the Western influence expanded. In Chinese, FIRST MONTH is the time for New Year celebration (supposed to be a whole month in the old days). It is 正月 in Chinese. To be exact, it is 正月 初一 (or first day of the first month viz: New Year Day). As you know, in the Chinese Tradition, New Year's Eve is the BIG DAY for family reunion.
As for Christmas, a Western Christian holiday, when it is transplanted to Japan, a Buddhist Country, only the commercial portion survived.
Congratulation again for learning so much about the Asian custom and traditions.
You're right, that's the kanji for it. And "first" in Japanese is "saishou" and even though the kanji is different, perhaps they used the pronunciation and tacked it onto the kanji for it.
And you're definitely right about the holiday transitions. That's more or less why things are as they are here.
It certainly is interesting drawing parallels between these things haha.....
Happy New Years bud. glad you had a good time out.
Don't I always?? hehe ;)
Happy New Years to you too!
I must say, 正 is not first. It means "the right one, the proper one, the correct one (as you say), the straight one, etc". But it is used to refer to the First (or most important, or most 'proper' one) month. As you know "Number ONE" is always the most proper (like the Emperor etc). So Number one (or First) is 正. I hope that make sense to you.
It seems you dad knows some japanese if i'm not mistaken?
Haha did "Mariko" look anything like Mariko? Although the name is synonymous to a "Jennifer" over here.
very multicultural, USA, japan, brazil lol
Geoffrey
Dad- it makes sense to me, and obviously not all kanji in Japanese means the same as it does in Chinese, so some variation in meaning is probably gonna be there =-).
Steve- She didn't look anything like Mariko haha..... she actually looked LESS Japanese than Mariko so.... yeah, I dunno haha....
Geoff- Japan is very very multicultural despite it's very stoic and traditional image =-). Well, multicultural in those parts of town anyway heh....
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