As a Filipina living in Japan for many years now, I can compare how New Year’s Day is celebrated in both countries. There are few similarities and many differences between Philippines and Japan celebrating New Year’s Day that I would like to share according to my observation and experience.
Decorations and Preparations
In the Philippines, whatever is decorated for Christmas will be carried over for the New Year’s. In fact, the greetings “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” is commonly displayed in houses, offices, shops, restaurants and malls.
To welcome the year, a tradition of displaying 12, which is recently changed to 13 round fruits – we call the lucky fruits on the dinner table on New Year’s Eve, is practiced in the Philippines. 12 represents each month and 13 represents an extra month which means abundance. Round signifies infinity, no beginning and no end of good luck and good fortune. Round objects are considered lucky so it is common to see people wearing polka dots. Round and sweet foods like leche flan, puto cheese, kalamay are considered lucky.
In Japan, New Year’s is the biggest event of the year. Japanese start preparing for the New Year’s by doing a general cleaning which they call osoji. People clean their houses and offices from the main door to the windows, waxing floors , bathroom and everything in between. Shimenawa (sacred straw rope) also called shimekazari and kadomatsu (bamboo and pine decoration) are seen in main doors and gates. Shimenawa are seen in shrines all throughout the year but houses only display these in New Year’s season. There is also kagamimochi (mirror rice cake) and a display of the year’s animal symbol. These decorations are believed to welcome the ancestral spirits and gods to enter the home.
Food
In the Philippines, people rush to the market at the break of the dawn on the 31st and expect the supermarket to be flooded with shoppers to prepare for media noche. There is a long list of food prepared for media noche but the regulars are lechon (whole roasted pig), pansit (noodles), lumpia(spring rolls), fried chicken, macaroni salad and spaghetti and of course the lucky fruits. Mostly people prepare food that are either round and sweet and those believed to make the year lucky and abundant.
In Japan, there is toshikoshi soba and osechi ryouri. Toshikoshi soba is eaten on New Year’s Eve as a symbol of crossing to a new year. Osechi consists of many different kinds of food in a box. Each food carries a meaning. For example, shrimp means long life as the shrimp is curved like an old person.
New Year’s Eve
It’s hard to keep up with the energy of the Filipinos when it comes to welcoming the new year. The most exciting countdown begins hours before midnight ( three more hours, two more hours, one more hour) and the closer it gets, the higher the energy and the louder the noise. Party starts when darkness hit or even before that. The neighborhood turns into karaoke bar and disco bar with people drinking and dancing on the streets. The ten minutes before 12 and the first ten minutes of January first is the noisiest, loudest, craziest, happiest time of the year. Before the ten-second countdown, people scream of excitement, get ready to jump (for those who wants to get tall), turn on all the lights in the house, turn on the car or motorcycle engine, blow the horns incessantly, get something even the pot cover to make noise. Everyone counts the last ten seconds “10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1! BOOM! The fireworks, the blowing of horns, the noise of cars and motorbikes, the jumping, the dancing, the shouting “Happy New Year” is endless. You don’t say it once, nor twice, nor three times. You say it to everyone in the house and to the neighbors. People go crazy with New Years. And many goes live on Facebook. It is believed that noise shoo the bad lucks. Some people wear polka dots (rounds objects are lucky), put coins in their pockets and shake them to make noise, and sometimes throw coins for the people to catch (rain of money – paulan ug kwarta). And after the countdown is the feast. Everyone gathers in the dinner table for the media noche.
This scenario might not be the same in the entire Philippines. I am speaking of my experience and my neighborhood and I am sure many can relate.
I remember the first time my husband spent New Year’s in the Philippines, he couldn’t stand the noise. It was too much for him it gave him headache. He wanted to go somewhere quiet but I told him, it’s the same everywhere we go.
On the contrary, in Japan, New Year’s eve is a very silent night compared to the Philippines. All is calm, all is normal.
Last year I spent New Year’s in our newly-bought house (the reason why we spent New Year’s in Japan). I was kind of disappointed or let’s say frustrated. It was just me, my husband and our daughter (my step daughter). Yes, we had our special dinner. I cooked special menu. But when it was almost 12 o’clock my energy as a Filipino was really high, I was the only one who was very excited to welcome the new year. I turned all the lights in the house, went upstairs and downstairs. I got really excited. But when I looked outside the window nobody was there, it was a very silent night. I was like a burning fire thrown a bucket of water. This is not the Philippines. This is Japan. But I’m not saying Japanese don’t celebrate. They do but in a different way.
Most people in Japan go back to their jikka (実家) or parents’ home to celebrate. On New Year’s Eve, Japanese eat toshikoshi soba and greet each other ‘akemashite omedetou gozaimasu’ (Happy New Year). They don’t normally do countdown at home, but you can go to clubs/bar in the city where the young party people go and party like there’s no tomorrow and welcome the new year. That’s how I spent New Year’s in Japan in 2014. It is a peaceful and simple celebration at home. On the 31st, after doing the general cleaning (osoji) and preparing or buying the special food osechi ryouri , most Japanese families gather and watch NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen or commonly called kohaku. This is a TV program where Japanese singers are divided into competing teams of red and white. This finishes shortly before midnight and judges and audiences vote which group perform better.
Some people visit temples and shrines. At the temple, or if you live nearby, you will hear the bell ringing on New Year’s Eve. This is called joyanokane (除夜の鐘). They ring the bell for exactly 108 times at New Year’s Eve which symbolizes 108 human sins in Buddhist belief.
First Day(s) of the Year
It is very common for Filipino families to go swimming on January first or anytime during the first days of the week.
The party and merry making continue. Left-over lechon will turn into lechon paksiw. There is also a belief that whatever you do on the first day of the year will forecast what will happen for the rest of the year. If you wake up late on January 1, expect that you will always wake up late. If you spend, you will always be spending. If you cry, then your year will be full of tears. In bisaya, we say “malihian“. My mama would say to us to do good things on the first day of the year and we will be lucky the whole year. “Magpalihi ug swerte.” She also told us not to spend a single cent or else money will fly away and we will keep spending the whole year and we will go broke. Lol.
In Japan, it is very famous to watch the first sunrise of the year (hatsuhi/hatsuhinode) and people go to temples or shrines to pray (hatsumode).
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The first day of the year is one of the happiest days for children because they get otoshidama, which is money gift from parents and relatives. People flock to the stores for its hatsuuri (first sales) and buy their fukubukuro (lucky bags). These lucky bags are sold for a certain price with random unknown things inside. The total value is more than the sale price.
If you notice – hatsuhi, hatsuhinode, hatsumoude, hatsuuri, all starts with hatsu. It’s because hatsu (初) means first and that is how Japanese values and enjoys the “firsts” of the year.
My sister’s Japanese family gather on the first day of the year in the parents’ house and review the year that passed. They also express their aspirations for the new year and they drink otoso (お屠蘇) New Year’s sake. The drinking of otoso starts from the youngest in the family up to the oldest.
Conclusion
New Year’s is the most celebrated event around the world. It doesn’t matter where you are from or what race you belong. People celebrate New Year’s regardless of religion.
Both Filipinos and Japanese celebrate it. Both value the gathering of families to welcome the new year. It is in the same manner that most go back to their parents’ home to celebrate and do things (although done differently) to attract good fortune for the whole year to come. Filipinos party and make noise to welcome the new year while Japanese enjoy the firsts of the year. Although the food prepared is entirely different, they share the idea of good luck, hope for good health and longevity.
If you ask me which celebration I prefer, I am sure I will have a hard time answering your question. It is hard for me to choose. Of course, there is no place like home. I like to celebrate this event with my family, with the merriment, with parties left and right, with the noise of excitement and bliss. But I also like the simplicity, the practicality, and the idea of enjoying the firsts of the year.
If you have reached this part, thank you for your time reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something from it and I hope you enjoyed your New Year’s celebration where ever in the world you are from.
Happy new year!
Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!
あけましておめでとうございます！