Hello everyone, I'm Yoshiko from Tokyo, Japan. The temperature here was below 10 degrees Celsius and it was a clear winter day.
Here I will share my family's tradition for celebrating the New Year in Japan.
There are various events and ways to celebrate the New Year in Japan. As for foods for the New Year, you might have heard of "zoni"(rice cake soup) and/or "osechi ryori" (traditional foods). My family definitely eats them during the New Year holidays. In addition to that, we eat yellowtail as a New Year's custom because the fish is believed to bring luck, especially success in life.
Yellowtail is called "buri (ぶり)" in Japanese, however, it is known by different names as it grows larger. "Buri (ぶり)" is the name of an adult fish, which is more than 80 cm in length. Yellowtail has three or four other names as well. Such fish which have different names depending on their growth are called "syusse uo (出世魚)" in Japanese. "Syusse (出世)" means getting promoted in career and "uo (魚)" means fish.
In short, our family celebrates the New Year with yellowtail called "buri (ぶり)" in the hope that we will grow up to be like them. But I believe that this custom exists because yellowtail is in season in winter.
How do you celebrate the New Year?
Have a nice day!
How interesting! Please keep sharing this cultural pills, it's amazing to have the opportunity to learn more about other cultures and traditions
Very interesting! I can't wait to go to Japan myself, it seems like an amazing country :) Btw, I believe it's something wrong with my pc and that I, therefore, am having problems writing comments directly in the text. This is for the second paragraph: I think that it sounds more fluent to write "Here I'm sharing with you one way to celebrity-" or just "Here I share with you one way to celebrate-"
"Syusse uo" and promotion in career, how interesting! I'm wishing you a good 2021, happy new year!
Thanks, Federica (@Fede97). I am glad to hear that! Thanks, @Leonore as well. I see you will come to Japan in the future! Great. Thank you for your suggestion. I sometimes had the same problems as you.
Thanks, @lanabit. Yeah, it's kind of funny to think that fish get promoted in their career. I hope you have a wonderful year too!
I didn't know this. Very interesting! In Russia we make a traditional salad called Olivier (Оливье) and drink champagne haha. But because I live in the Netherlands, we combine the salad with a traditional Dutch food called ''Oliebollen" ( this are balls of sweet dough that are deepfried).
Hello Yoshiko, I really enjoyed reading about the traditions of Japan as I would like to travel there sometime in the future! In my Indian culture, we usually gather with family and celebrate with traditional food and drinks until late in the morning. However, we also have our own New Years Day after the actual one.
Hi, @MariaTheMillennial. Thank you for sharing! I've never heard of either of them before. Both look good!
Thanks, @Maya. I see! The beginning of the new year depends on the calendar. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for the information about your family's tradition. I spent my first New Year's in Japan this year, and I ate soba! あけましておめでとうございます！
Hi, @nicholl. あけましておめでとうございます！Thank you for your comment. I hope you have a great time in Japan!
I enjoyed reading about this interesting custom. I was a sushi chef for several years and hamachi is my favorite fish!
Thanks, @Halibut! Oh, I see you were a sushi chef. Great! I guess you know a lot about fish! I like hamachi too.