The New Year's Day is the most significant day in Japan, equivalent to Christmas in other countries. People visit Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples, they return to their homes and feast on traditional New Year food, "osechi," and they send New Year’s cards to friends and relatives. There is no custom of exchanging their presents at Christmas, but it is customary to give money in a small envelope, “otoshidama" to their children, and young nephews and nieces. Just after New Year's Day toy shops and computer stores are said to be full of temporarily rich children.
According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit, which is the fourth animal-the first animal is the Rat followed by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and the last, the Pig. So, people in Japan will see a lot of depicting rabbits. And for people born in the Year of the Rabbit, they shall be the luckiest people this year. Tiger Woods may regain his previous stardom because he is a Rabbit like Albert Einstein, Pope Benedict, David Beckham and Brad Pitt. Positive thinkers predict that it being the year of the Rabbit will help Japan overcome the stagnation of the economy and low employment rates among other problems, saying, "we can jump over the difficulties and leap into a brighter future like rabbits." I also hope we can.
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| A shinto shrine near my house |
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| A shrine celebrates the Year of the Rabbit |
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| Rabbit ornaments in my house |
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A bowl of zoni, kuromane, datemaki, and namasu
typical new year food |
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| New year's cards from my friends |
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