おしょうがつ

あけましておめでとうございます！

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. I thought this time I would share some of the things that happen in Japan at Christmas and New Year.

First things first: in Japan you don't get a holiday on Christmas!!!

これは、わたしのクリスマスのひるごはんでした：

 ふつうのおにぎりとかんじテストのふくしゅう。。。

Happily our holiday started on Boxing Day, so we got to go out and have fun after all. In Japan, Christmas is more like a party day, so friends get together and often exchange gifts.
まちのなかはピカピカでした。

そして、ドイツのクリスマスマーケットにいきました。とてもきれいなクリスマスきがありました！

おどろいたことに、日本ではふつうのクリスマスのたべものは、ＫＦＣです。Yes, you read that right. For some reason in Japan a lot of people go to KFC to eat at Christmas, you even have to book in advance! Here's an advert reminding people to book in advance to avoid disappointment:

So after Christmas, of course, came おしょうがつ、New Year! みんなさんはおしょうがつになにをしますか。In Japan, I guess New Year and Christmas are the opposite to the UK; I would normally spend Christmas with my family and go to a party on New Year's Eve, but here everyone goes back to their family's house for New Year. As international students, of course, we still wanted to experience a proper Japanese New Year, so our landlord kindly made us all the traditional soba dish eated on New Year's Eve.

これは、おおやさんがつくってくれたばんごはんです：

めっちゃおいしかったです！

それをたべたあとで、はつもうでにいきました
はつもうでっていうのは、なんですか？
"Hatsumode" is the first shrine visit of the New Year. You can really go at any time in the New Year period, but a lot of people go as soon as they can, so that meant jumping on our bikes just before midnight and cycling the nearest temple, 大覚寺(Daikakuji). Actually Hatsumode is typically your first shrine visit, but our landlord is a Buddhist. Anyway, it was really fun because at Buddhist temples you get to hit the big bell. There were tons of people even though it was the middle of the night, so we ended up queueing for half an hour!

 

We also got おみくじ(fortunes), which is a tradition of Hatsumode. If you get good luck, then that's great, but it's bad then you have to tie up your fortune so that the bad luck will blow away. しんぱいしないで、わたしのは末吉（すえきちgood luck to come）でしたから、うれしいです！

 

 どうおもいますか。がいこくでクリスマスをけいけんしたことがありますか。けいけんしたいですか。

ことしもよろしくおねがいします！

よんでくれて、ありがとうございます。