Osaka

Japan only started celebrating the New Year on January 1st, 1873, when the country adopted the Gregorian calendar of the West. Traditionally, the Japanese New Year was the same as the Chinese calendar. As this is a lunisolar calendar, New Year falls on a different date each year. Now, though, New Year in Japan is always January 1st. Most of the country shuts down for several days before and after this date. The New Year celebration involves eating traditional food, like rice cakes and buckwheat noodles. At midnight, Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times (107 before midnight and once in the new year) to represent the 108 worldly desires. People also send postcards to friends and relatives. However, the most important activity for many is the first Shinto shrine visit of the New Year, called hatsumōde. Worshippers pilgrimage to a shrine to pray for good luck in the year. They also use the opportunity to buy good luck amulets, shift fortunes in their favor, and bring their old charms to be burned. Some shrines attract millions of visitors during the first three days of the New Year, which results in long lines of people waiting to enter. There are…