Japanese New Year

The Japanese New Year (正月, shōgatsu?) is an annual festival with its own customs. The preceding days are quite busy, particularly the day before, known as Ōmisoka. The Japanese New Year has been celebrated since 1873 according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year (New Year's Day where the Gregorian calendar is used). In Okinawa, the cultural New Year is still celebrated as the contemporary Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Years.

Read more about Japanese New Year:  History, Traditional Food, Bell Ringing, Postcards, Otoshidama, Mochi, Poetry, Games, Entertainment, Beethoven's Ninth, Hatsumōde, Hatsuhinode, The "firsts" of The Year, Little New Year

Famous quotes containing the words japanese and/or year:

    The Japanese do not fear God. They only fear bombs.
    Jerome Cady, U.S. screenwriter. Lewis Milestone. Yin Chu Ling, The Purple Heart (1944)

    And year by year the landscape grow
    Familiar to the stranger’s child;
    Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)