Busy days around the New Year's Eve in Japan

We are always like this, 1st January is in winter. In the case of Japan, it is always so. Last year was so too, and this year is so.

This year’s winter is quite cold. And we have a lot of snow. Also yesterday, it snowed since the morning. The road in front of my house was white.

I don’t know why, but Japanese people are quite busy preparing at the end of December. It is a preparation for the New Year. We clean all over the house, cook the New Year’s cuisine and go greeting relatives. I think you should do those things on very ordinary days because of being busy. But they are eager to do it this week.

My father is 80s and my mother is 70s. Though it snowed this week, my mother said that she was going to go tomb cleaning. So I said to her, “Don’t go tomb cleaning because it snows.” But she seemed to go with my father when the snow stopped.

My wife was arranging cutting flowers at night, for decorating on the New Year. It was a very cold night. Water in the kitchen is cold too. I thought you don’t have to do it now, at that time. As expected, the next day, she said to me, “I may have caught a cold today.”

We don't like a warm winter

I don’t know why, but it seems that Japanese people don’t like a warm winter. We seem to think that winter should not be warm. Surely, I feel the same too.

On New Year’s Eve night, many Japanese people are having dinner while watching TV, with family or friends. In many cases, its TV program is 紅白歌合戦/Kouhaku-Utagassen on NHK. It is a song program in which many singers sing.

Around the time when its program ends, Japanese religious events begin in many temples. It is called 除夜の鐘/Joya-No-Kane. And the sounds of bells in temples arrive within our houses. It is just the midnight of the last day of the year.

So we may often think this way at that time. It is beautiful if it is snowing outside now. My heart would be calm. We prefer a cold winter.