JOI Community News for January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!! I hope this year will bring you great properity, health, and happiness. Our online Japanese school has been on holiday since December 31, but we will resume classes on January 4.

Upon their return, the teachers will have had their fill of おせち料理 (osechi ryori) seasonal cheer and will no doubt be itching to get back to classes. To learn more about osechi ryori, have a look at Ichoda sensei's blog entry (login required).

In Japan, Nothing Beats New Year's

The New Year's holiday is undoubtedly the most important period in the Japanese cultural calendar. The Japanese celebrate the new year on January 1, unlike the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, who, by following the lunar calendar, call in the new year at the beginning of spring. Before 1873, Japan, too, celebrated the Chinese New Year, but following the Meiji Restoration, the calendar was changed to follow the Gregorian Calendar.

New Year's celebrations in Japan are quite different from those in the West. The Japanese holiday is a much more reserved affair, and it takes some getting used to if you are accustomed to big parties and noisy crowds.

Midnight at the Temple

Then again, if it's crowds you are after, then the place to go New Year's Eve is a shrine or temple. Many of the larger temples have huge bells which the monks strike at the stroke of midnight, in a tradition known as 除夜の鐘 (joya-no-kane). The custom is to strike the bell exactly 108 times—coming from the Buddhist belief that man has 108 desires, and each strike of the bell is meant to purify or remove a desire.

Some temples allow visitors to strike the bells, although many limit the opportunity to the first 108 visitors. The queues can be long at popular temples, so it is quite an act of patience and endurance to wait your turn in the often bitter cold night.

The area immediately around the temple is subdued, but just beyond lie streets filled with stalls selling all kinds of food and new-year products in a festival-like atmosphere. The party is helped along by lots of energetic young people fearlessly braving the cold.

Ringing bells in joya-no-kane ritual

初日の出　Hatsu Hi-No-De

Monks striking bells in joya-no-kane ritual

The new year is about "firsts", new beginnings, shrugging off the past and looking forward to the future.

One popular "first" is the viewing of the first sunrise of the new year. Many people drive to mountain tops or hike to hilltops to wait the rising of the first sun. It can be quite a spiritual experience for some people, as they offer prayers for family health and good fortune to the new sun. For others, it is a time to enjoy nature, and several cries of "Kirei!" ("It's so beautiful!") can be heard as the sun's first rays lighten the morning sky.

For the most popular spots, expect to find lots and lots of fellow sun worshippers. A friend said that at Mount Fuji you have to peer over the heads of several people just to get a glimpse of the horizon!

初詣 Hatsu-Moude

Another first for the New Year's period is 初詣 (hatsu-moude), the first visit to a shrine in the new year. At the hatsu-moude visit, which takes place between January 1st and 3rd, families pray for good luck for the next year.

Many young women dress up in kimono to visit the shrine, although the custom is waning in recent times. As with other New Year's traditions in Japan, there are usually long queues to get to the main shrine building, where it is customary to toss some coins into the 賽銭箱 (saisen-bako, collection box). Evidently, the coin throwing can get rowdy: During one hatsu-moude visit, a Kyoto friend approached the collection box at a famous Kyoto shrine, only to be pelted by coins from patrons behind her who couldn't quite get to the front.

Here in Fukuoka, many people follow the custom of visiting three shrines in a day, known as 三社参り (san sha mairi). The custom is prevalent in western Japan.

Support Tips

Are you hearing echoes in the classroom? Because the new classrooms let you and your teacher talk at the same time, you may hear echoes (or cause echoes) if your microphone isn't adjusted properly. We have several new FAQs to deal with the topic:

	If you hear echoes or noise when you talk, please read this FAQ.
	If you hear echoes or noise when someone else talks, please read this FAQ.
	If someone else hears echoes when you talk, please read this FAQ.

Is your voice cutting in and out in the classroom? Your Internet connection may be a little slow—try this FAQ for ways to improve your voice quality.

Are the voices of other users breaking up in the classroom? Again, it might be your Internet connection. One great way to solve this problem is to turn off your video reception, as described in this FAQ.

Don't forget about the weekly lesson blog! It's a free way to learn about Japanese culture and learn a few words and phrases along the way.

Thanks for making 2008 a great year here at JOI. Teachers and staff are looking forward to more fun learning Japanese online in 2009. Happy New Year!

If you have other questions, be sure to check out the FAQs, or if you don't find an answer there, write me at support@japonin.com.

Sincerely,

Moses
JOI Support

In Japan, Nothing Beats New Year's

Midnight at the Temple

初日の出 Hatsu Hi-No-De

初詣 Hatsu-Moude

Support Tips

初日の出　Hatsu Hi-No-De