Tag: Culture

How do Japanese celebrate the New Year?

On By Kanariya EishiIn Educational, Japanese Culture, LifeLeave a comment

During my recent visit to Japan, I got to experience the entire New Year celebrations with my family. It was the first time in at least a decade to go through the entire routine that I once did every single year until I left my homeland when I was 19.

I am sure there are local and family variations, but here is how it is generally celebrated in my area:

Towards the end of December

Year-end Cleaning: We clean the entire house towards the end of the year. It is like the spring cleaning in the west, but we do this in winter instead. This is based on the concept of ‘kiyome’ (清め) or ‘cleansing’ before welcoming the new year.

Osechi Making: Osechi is a traditional Japanese New Year feast, which is basically an elaborate bento. Each item has a special meaning, wishing for health, prosperity, and happiness in the coming year. Traditionally, it was pre-cooked before New Year’s Day so that the family members did not have to cook for the first few days of the year to relax.

31 December

Soba Noodle Eating: We eat soba noodles to wish for health and longevity. In some areas in Japan, they eat soba noodles on 1 January instead. The toppings also vary depending on the area. In my family, we do this ‘ritual’ towards midnight, sometime around 11:00 PM.

Kōhaku Uta Gassen: In the evening, many Japanese families watch the Red and White Singing Competition (Kōhaku Uta Gassen) on NHK, our national TV. It is basically a concert that showcases the best singers in Japan.

New Year’s Day

Shrine Visit: Families visit their local shrine to pray for good luck and health. Many families visit shrines in the first three days of the year (sanganichi; 三が日), but it is my family tradition to visit our local shrine at 12:00 AM midnight.

First Sunrise Gazing (初日の出): After a short sleep, we get up at the sunrise to pray to the sun. I’d say it is more cultural than religious, but it is said to be auspicious to gaze at the first sunrise of the year.

Breakfast: We eat the osechi that we prepared towards the end of the previous year. We also drink otoso, which is sake with some medicinal herbs, to pray for good health and well-being for the year. It tastes aweful, by the way!

New Year Cards: New Year Cards (Nengajou, 年賀状) start arriving around 10:00AM. The number of the New Year cards is an indicator of your popularity. As I grew up, I only received 20-30 cards while my dad received 500 plus. People are moving away from this custom these days, though. Many youths just email or text on LINE, which is like the Japanese version of WhatsApp.

Otoshidama (お年玉): If you are still a child or a teenager, you receive some pocket money in a little envelope called ‘pochi-bukuro’ (ポチ袋). As I grew up, my Kansai (Western Japan) relatives tended to give me more 😁

Community Celebrations: Depending on the area you live in, there might be some community celebrations. In my hometown, a mikoshi palanquin (a portable shrine) is taken into the sea to pray for the water safety for the year.

I have created a YouTube video about this subject, so if you are interested, please visit my YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe if you still haven’t!

Happy New Year 2025!

On By Kanariya EishiIn Goals, Notice2 Comments

Happy New Year! 新年あけましておめでとうございます！

Hope you had some good breaks during the Christmas and New Year holidays!

As a heavily Kiwi-fied person, I am finally kicking off my work year today after the 3 weeks of summer holidays… Perhaps, it is not appropriate to call it ‘summer holidays’ as I spent the most of it in the icy cold Japan. Anyway, I feel very stagnant, and it’s about time to get on with my creative projects!

During my stay in Japan, I got to perform rakugo in English three times; twice at Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center and once with my master’s rakugo family. It was especially a huge privilege for me to perform with my rakugo family, who are basically some of the top “English Rakugo” performers in Japan.

The photo above is from the performance with my rakugo family. (From the left, Eishi, Showman, Eiraku, Ichirin, Panda, and Koraku). Eiraku (my master), Ichirin, and Koraku are the founders of the English Rakugo Association.

There are some exciting projects coming in, but one of the biggest news so far is that the rakugo-inspired artwork that was exhibited at Christchurch Art Gallery (New Zealand) and Tampere Art Museum (Finland) will be displayed at an art museum in Hiroshima, Japan! More information to follow. (If you are interested in this art project, you can read my past entry here.)

I will also resume school visits if my funding application is approved. I will probably be able to offer 5-10 free performance-workshops. Keep an eye out for this page and/ or my SNS.

There will be an open performance/ workshop at Epsom Library on Saturday, 5 April 2025 as a part of the World of Cultures celebrations.

Also, I am planning to stay in Japan for a longer period at the end of this year, and I would like to expand my performance opportunities there. Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating with me sometime between November 2025- January 2026 in Japan.

Finally, though I have said this over and over… I really want to make my YouTube work this year! Please follow my channel if you still haven’t and also give me suggestions to make it work.

Have a fantastic year, everybody!

A Possibility of Reviving the Rakugo Club?

On By Kanariya EishiIn Notice, Updates2 Comments

Kia ora!

As a few people have asked me if I am willing to revive the rakugo club, I am writing this to suss out if there is enough interest out there to resume the group.

Learning from my past mistakes, I will approach it a bit differently this time if you are interested in participating in this only rakugo community in New Zealand.

  1. As it is the traditional way, I am still willing to teach rakugo free of charge. However, this time I’d like the participants to organise a venue for me. I want to focus on just teaching rakugo (in the past, I had to do most of the admin myself).
  2. This time I will make, for example, a 10 week-long curriculum to end the term with a public performance. I’d like students who actually want to perform at the end of the programme.
  3. The problem of a free programme was that many people didn’t show up regularly, but this time I’d expect participants to show up at least 80% of the sessions.
  4. I have a few women’s kimono donated to the club for you to use, but otherwise you will need to organise your own kimono. A very cheap ones can be purchased for $30-50 at Asia Gallery Kimono Emporium.
  5. If you don’t live in Auckland, please do not contact me regarding this (as it happens a lot!). If you do, I am sorry but I will disregard your message!

If you are interested in getting involved, please message me via the contact page or one of my SNS.

Performing Rakugo on Saturday 7 September!

On By Kanariya EishiIn Notice, UpdatesLeave a comment

I’m letting you know that my rakugo performance at Te Pou Theatre is happening this weekend!

Some people have asked me what time my slot is, so here you go!

PLACE: Tāhū Studio at Te Pou (Corban Estate Arts Centre, 2 Mt Lebanon Lane, Henderson, Waitakere)

TIME (for my performance): 2:15PM-2:45PM

As I mentioned before, it’s a part of Whānau Day, and you can check out heaps of other amazing artists, too, FOR FREE!

Hope to see you there, and make sure to say hi to me!

Rakugo Performance Schedule

On By Kanariya EishiIn Māori, Notice, UpdatesLeave a comment

Kia ora!

It’s been a while to update my website, but hope everything is well with you all 😊

I have been performing mainly for educational institutions for the last few months, but 2 public performances are coming up very soon!

One will be at UPSTAIRS of my favourite bookstore, Time Out (432 Mt Eden Road), and the other will be on Whānau Day 2024 at the prestigious Māori theatre, Te Pou (2 Mt Lebanon lane, Henderson)!

* To clarify the notice on Whānau Day 2024, ‘Rakugo’ is the right spelling of my art, and my real name ‘Hiroshi’, instead of my stage name Kanariya Eishi, is shown (which is actually seen as a no-no in the rakugo world), but I’m still super grateful!

Please do RSVP via contact page or one of my SNS if you are coming to the Time Out performance. RSVP not required for Whānau Day.

I normally pick which stories to perform while I’m on stage, but I have realised it’d be more audience friendly if I let them know before the performance, so here’s my plan:

Time Out (Sat 24 August)

Story 1: The Zoo (動物園) Story 2: Licking a Kettle (やかんなめ)

Te Pou (Sat 7 September)

Story 1: Jugemu (寿限無) Story 2: The Zoo (動物園)

Hope to see you there! Don’t forget to RSVP if you are coming to Time Out!

Superstitious Japanese: Luckiest Days of the Year

On By Kanariya EishiIn Educational, Japanese Culture, Life, Random, TriviaLeave a comment

I have to say that Japanese are superstitious.

I have a large stack of the lucky charms that my dear mother in Japan have sent me over the last 20 plus years.

We avoid numbers like 4 and 9 because 4 (四 shi) rhymes with death (死 shi) while 9 (九 ku) rhymes with suffering (苦 ku).

When I turned 44, my mum sent me heaps of lucky charms to ward off bad luck. I can predict that I’ll be bombarded with some more lucky charms when I turn 49 next year.

Having said that, I grew up more of a cynical sceptic, taking after my dad.

So I thought, but I recently realised that I am actually both sceptic and superstitious- just like the rest of Japan.

Most of us say that we are non-religious, but we love visiting shrines, temples, and even churches and vaguely believe in the unseen world. We are not atheists as some westerners say.

Since I started learning about the traditional Māori calendar called maramataka, I’ve got really curious about our own traditional calendar, and I’ve been learning about it for the last few months.

First, look at the Japanese calendar of this month (June 2024) below. Most of our calendars tell us the luck of each day.

For example, 24th June 2024 is a Taian (大安), one of the luckiest days, and many Japanese weddings are held on a Taian.

On the other hand, 17th June 2024 is a Butsumetsu (仏滅), and it’s the unluckiest day in Japanese calendar. Most couples avoid this day to get married.

As I grew up, I’d always thought Taian was the luckiest day, but I have recently learned that there are luckier days in the year.

It is called Tenshanichi (天赦日 てんしゃにち), which only happens 5-6 times a year. It is believed that all the gods rise up to the heavens and forgive all the sins of people on this day.

When Taian and Tenshanichi overlap, it is even more auspicious.

There is another lucky day called Ichiryumanbaibi (一粒万倍日 いちりゅうまんばいび), which literally means “the day one seed turns into 10,000 seeds”.

It is a good day to start a new project.