December

Oshogatsu, or New Year, is the most important holiday in Japan. Businesses shut down from January 1 to January 3, and families gather to spend time together. During the New Year, most places around Japan look like ghost towns, as children fly kites, play card games or count their otoshidama [cash presents from relatives]. It is a time to relax, and those who enjoy a tipple may do so from breakfast to sundown and, so that no one has to cook, pick from pre-made boxes of food called osechi that will be eaten cold throughout the holiday. At some point over the coming days, most people all over the country will enjoy a visit to the shrine to pray for prosperity, purchase good luck charms, and write their hopes and dreams on wooden plaques to hang for good fortune in the new year. Here are a few impressive shrines for you to see in the New Year: Atsuta Shrine Hatsumode Atsuta Jingu was founded about 1900 years ago, when the sacred sword Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, one of the Imperial symbols, was enshrined. The shrine has a peaceful feel (although not in the New Year period when people line the paths to pray)…