Japanese Customs Make For An Interesting New Year
Japan celebrates the year-end holidays backwards. Christmas Eve is the time to go out and party and get rip-roaring drunk. New Year's eve is the serene time to get together with family and visit close friends.
Japanese do that here, too. Last night in San Francisco we tried to go to three different Japanese restaurants. All closed for the New Year's holidays until January 4th.
When we lived in Japan we knew to stock up on milk and other perishables by December 30th. Everything in the country shuts down for the New Year's holiday except the Japan National Railways and NHK Television.
Here in California, I resisted the impulse to go take a ride on AMTRAK, but I did call up Comcast to order my free 2-week trial of TV Japan on cable. Oh, so sorry, free trial offer just expired.
Of course! Why would they offer free Japanese language broadcasting when everybody who speaks Japanese is already gathered in front of the TV to watch NHK report the ringing of the temple bells in Japan?
They wouldn't.
They don't have to.
They've already signed up their prime market of viewers in North America.
In Japan the trains are kept running so that everybody can go visit everybody else. Here, customs are less focused. Japan Town San Francisco is crowded with caucasian tourists — many of whom think it's a good place to party on New Years (NOT). This keeps many Japanese shops open even though they know they should really be closed.
But there's an end to it. On January 4th, the first working day of the year, everybody scurries around from office to office leaving their name cards on everybody else's desk (especially the desks of superiors).
Then, after 10 a.m., say 11:15 at the latest, the Sake bottles, premium whiskey bottles and great quantities of beer appear on the conference tables and counter tops throughout all the offices in Japan.
By 2 p.m. everybody goes home drunk on the first working day of the year.
Banzai!
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