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  • We go to watch the first sun rise.

  • You both wait some time before you go to a shrine. -That's right.

  • So NOT times square? - No definitely not.

  • We eat one grape with one of the chimes.

  • Hey it's Cathy Cat and today we have the pleasure to ask

  • foreigners and Japanese people and compare,

  • on the issue of how they celebrate the New Year.

  • New Year's in Japan is a BIG deal and it might be very different

  • compared to your country.

  • Let's go and ask Japanese and foreigners.

  • On New Year's it's a tradition that we go to my dad's parent's house.

  • We pray in front of the house shrine. A very traditional Japanese New Year.

  • - That's traditional. - It is!

  • What tradition is it?

  • We have a household shrine and make our prayers there.

  • I am from the countryside, so around our house there are only rice fields.

  • So you celebrate a deity? - Yes.

  • Wow.

  • I spend New Year's Eve every year with friends and we

  • listen to the 108 rings of the temple bell.

  • What's that?

  • Those chimes have to ring out before 00:00 on New Years night on time.

  • You go to a temple for that. Then we go and watch the sunrise.

  • So you stay up until then?

  • Yes we do that, and once all is done we go home and eat New Year's osechi food.

  • You don't get to sleep much that night. - That's true.

  • Once the new year starts you take time to sleep.

  • What New Year'S Osechi food is nice? Can you recommend something?

  • My grandfather makes the osechi every year.

  • Everything he makes is tasty...

  • There are also some large shrimps. It's tasty.

  • Do you eat osechi food too?

  • Do you make or buy it?

  • We make it at home.

  • My mother and grandmother make it.

  • I like the kurikuri kinton.

  • What is it made of? - It's made with chestnuts.

  • Super sweet chestnuts.

  • Does it take a lot of time to make Osechi?

  • A lot. My mum has to start on the day before to make it.

  • Getting everything ready to eat it on New Year's morning.

  • Why is there Osechi food?

  • It's our way to honor the start of the new year.

  • It has existed for many many years.

  • I am from Austria. - And where are you from?

  • I am from Finland.

  • Usually when it's new year we gather with my friends.

  • to my apartment or some other friend's apartment.

  • Then we drink and then usually go when it's midnight to see the fireworks.

  • Outside.

  • And then we continue partying.

  • Quite the same. We gather with friends at some apartment.

  • Then we go out into the city in Vienna and watch the fireworks

  • and then go out (clubbing).

  • Any traditions you do on New Year's?

  • We have thing thing called "lead pouring".

  • You have fluid lead which you pour into water.

  • Then it becomes solid form.

  • There is a catalog.

  • You can look at the shape and if it resembles one of the things

  • in the catalog it has a certain meaning.

  • If it's a mouse it can mean luck.

  • Oh no it was the pig which means luck.

  • And some other symbols.

  • YES! I remember! It's like an oracle. You have metal and you heat it

  • over a candle on a spoon and then you drop it into water.

  • Exactly, that's it.

  • - Do you do something like that in your country? - We have the same thing.

  • In Finland. We don't have any catalog.

  • We just watch it when it's in its final form.

  • Then we are like "Hm this resembles a horse."

  • And it tells something about your future.

  • How many days do you get off in the new year?

  • Two weeks. I think that's the Christmas Holiday length.

  • We're students.

  • So for students it's Christmas plus new years, two weeks.

  • Yeah, I think it's two weeks.

  • I go to relative's houses.

  • I go to my first yearly shrine visit.

  • I draw fortune slips and such.

  • I go to my grandparent's house and eat Osechi food.

  • I am at the age where I have to give New Year's money (Otoshidama).

  • I give my cousin some money.

  • How much do you give as pocket money? - Not more than 2-3,000 Yen.

  • - 3,000 per person? - 3,000 per person.

  • - I think you are giving quite a lot. - I think that's actually only a little.

  • How much do you usually give then?

  • Well my parents give about 5,000 Yen.

  • Up to 10,000 Yen.

  • Depending on the family? - Yes.

  • When you got your New Year's money as child,

  • is there something you remember buying with it?

  • When I was small I would buy myself games and such.

  • And more recently I bought myself clothes and such.

  • When I was small I bought myself games and such.

  • Recently, I tend to save it up and don't use it.

  • I have some Osechi.

  • Osechi is a traditional food box with many different types of food.

  • And every type of food has a certain meaning for the New Year.

  • That's why we all eat it every year!

  • It's very colorful and extravagant, made with many different ingredients.

  • When do you start eating Osechi?

  • New Year's day. On New Year's eve we all eat New Year's Eve Soba noodles.

  • New Year's Eve soba noodles on the 31st and then Osechi and Ozoni.

  • What's Ozoni?

  • Ozoni varies depending on the prefecture of Japan.

  • It's a soy sauce based soup, containing rice cakes

  • You eat it in order to have a good New Year.

  • That's what Ozoni is for.

  • So you eat, eat and eat. What else do you do?

  • I watch the Kouhaku song contest.

  • What's the Kouhaku then?

  • The most famous artists of this year...

  • are all coming together. Girls are the red team. Men are the white team.

  • Then they sing and score points.

  • Every year it's about if red or white wins.

  • Like a massive song contest. - Yes.

  • We also get Otoshidama. - Can you explain?

  • Otoshidama is money you get from your parents or relatives

  • Children get it with the wish to use it well during the year.

  • That's Otoshidama.

  • We also go to shrines and make our first prayers.

  • For example the Meiji Shrine.

  • I think there will be many people.

  • I wait a few days before I go to a shrine.

  • I wait until it's less crowded to make my new year's shrine prayers.

  • I also go to my grandparent's house and relax around there.

  • You both wait some time before you go to a shrine. -That's right.

  • Is it really that bad?

  • You can't really move forward and if you do you stay in a long cue.

  • That's not right for praying.

  • We are from America, NY.

  • Drink with your friends usually

  • ... in either NY or you travel somewhere.

  • But you are usually drinking with friends and you get dressed up.

  • In NY if you spend it in the city, for people that live there...

  • you try to do whatever you can to avoid Times Square.

  • because every tourist from every part of the world is there.

  • It's too crazy for New Yorkers.

  • Aside from that you find somewhere warm...

  • with some drinks and some friends.

  • So NOT times square? - No definitely not.

  • Everyone counts down and then you cheers and then...

  • ... if you are dating, you kiss.

  • or I guess if you are not dating, you kiss your friends.

  • Usually kiss something.

  • You are allowed to kiss your friends in that moment then?

  • Like "Ah well, we are both single, let's kiss."

  • - Yeah. - On the lips?

  • Uhm... sure.

  • Wow!

  • On New Year's eve all the family comes together and we eat hot pot.

  • We huddle together under the kotatsu to keep warm.

  • What's a kotatsu? Can you say it in your words?

  • It's a table that has a blanket attached to it.

  • If you switch it on, it's like an electric heater.

  • It gets all warm. If you put your feet under it...

  • It is super nice.

  • Celebrating into the New Year together with friends.

  • And in the afternoon or around lunch spend time with the family.

  • So everyone does a party for New Year? - Yeah.

  • What do you do on a New Year's party? A count down?

  • The countdown I spend with my friends.

  • We watch TV or we go to a shrine in the night.

  • When you go to the shrine, what do you do?

  • The first shrine visit of the year... I pull my yearly fortune slip.

  • If you pull a bad fortune slip, what do you do?

  • There is a place for that.

  • You tie the bad fortune slip there and pray for something good.

  • If you pull a great fortune slip, what do you do?

  • If I pull a good one, I take it home.

  • You put it in your wallet? - That's what I do.

  • If I pull a bad fortune slip, I pretend it didn't happen and pull a second one.

  • How would you like to spend New Year's this year?

  • I want to celebrate it with friends, like Christmas.

  • Christmas and New Years are parties with friends?

  • I choose party!

  • I want to celebrate into the New Year with friends and family.

  • I heard everyone eats Osechi food?

  • What's the most delicious one of those?

  • Tatemaki.

  • It's like an egg omelette. It's tasty.

  • I like shrimp the most.

  • A full fledged shrimp?

  • Generally there is only one in the box.

  • And I eat that one without hesitation.

  • Do you eat that one first or last?

  • First, before someone else gets it.

  • Where are you from? - Spain. Which city? - Bilbao.

  • Most of us have dinner with their families.

  • Inside the houses instead of going to a restaurant.

  • Then, when the 12 chimes of the last year ring, we eat

  • we eat Ubas? Grapes? That's right.

  • We eat 12 grapes when the...

  • When the clock is marking the last moments...

  • We eat one grape with one of the chimes...

  • Then we say "New Year!"

  • We celebrate new year.

  • Then after being with the family we go out with friends.

  • to celebrate with them. Going to parties and such.

  • Cool, so 12 grapes, really quickly.

  • Yumyumyum Happy New Year.

  • Yeah that's it. Normally you end up with your mouth...

  • full of grapes.

  • If you manage to eat them all in time it means you are lucky in the new year.

  • Where are you from? - Malaysia.

  • What do you do on NewYears?

  • We have a lot of malls. We have big fireworks.

  • on the big malls and maybe some parks.

  • Most of the time we just go to those places...

  • we just look at the fireworks for 10-20 minutes.

  • Or we just come there and wait for the fireworks.

  • So it's friends coming together, watching the fireworks.

  • Thank you very much much that was a lovely interview. Bye.

  • NEW YEAR!

  • For example what we do in the West we have fireworks,

  • we have drinks, we go to friends houses,

  • apparently in the US you are allowed to kiss which I found cool.

  • In Spain you eat the grapes really fast before the New Year.

  • In Japan there are so many traditions.

  • New Years in Japan and Christmas is like a swap.

  • Family time, everything of that is on New Years in Japan.

  • And celebrating with friends or your partner is on Christmas.

  • So it kind of gets switched around a bit of what we know in the west.

  • There are SO SO many traditions. I will try and summarize some traditions

  • that you have seen so far.

  • In the evening people eat long noodles which are supposed to symbolize

  • long life.

  • Many people watch the music TV show on that day.

  • Then you have the clock that strikes 12 so you do the count down.

  • You hear the clock from the temples ringing as well.

  • Sometimes you just watch that on TV how the bell gets rung for New Years.

  • And then people go out to shrines and sometimes temples

  • to get their New Years Omamori charm that is supposed to protect you

  • in the New Year or an arrow for the New Year.

  • And you draw your fortune slip for the New Year.

  • And after that you are allowed to eat Osechi Ryouri which is special food

  • that you eat only in this season.

  • People prepare it in advance and once it's New Year you're allowed to eat it.

  • If you buy those they are very expensive but they are also there to

  • release the mothers of lots of stress because you have them with rice

  • so in the new year there is not so much cooking going on.

  • I found that interesting as well.

  • Then there is Toshidama, which is the money during that

  • So instead of presents, kids get money in a little envelope that usually

  • has a cute character on it, for the New Year to spend on.

  • And that brings me to... LUCKY BAGS!

  • Obviously if kids and people get lots of money...

  • businesses make something out of that as well.

  • So you can stand in line right on New Years day

  • lots of shops have bargains with bags that have double the value in them

  • or many more time the value in them but you don't know what's in them

  • They are like surprise bags with great value that you can take advantage of

  • if you come here for the New Year.

  • I wish you a lovely happy New Year, have a great time!

  • All the best for 2017! Best wishes from Japan! Catch you soon! Bye!

  • Why are you hiding behind the curtain?

We go to watch the first sun rise.

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