Tag: Japan

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!

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!

Social Media Dilemma

On By Kanariya EishiIn Life, Notice, Random, Updates4 Comments

It’s been 8 months since I closed my Twitter/ X account.

The platform was getting filled up with hate speech, misinformation, and trolls, and I no longer wanted to be a cog for the billionaire’s virtual playground where I was one of his products.

But… I have to admit that I later regretted my decision when my account was completely swiped off the system. I really felt, then, that regardless of all the cons, what mattered the most was the real people on the other side of the digital sinkhole.

I almost felt guilty that I chose my dislike of the platform over the real people who I knew in real life and those who I’d possibly meet in the unforeseen future.

Having said that, it’s time to move on.

The problem with X was that a single powerful person (or an egomaniac?) dominated the entire platform. Unfortunately, this could potentially happen to all other centralised platforms including Meta-owned sites like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or even WhatsApp, which means pretty much all the major platforms in the world.

However, as a true “indie of indies”, I cannot do without SNS to share my work as a rakugo performer, and this has been a huge dilemma to me.

In an ideal world, I’d rather meet and chat with people face-to-face rather than only connecting with them virtually. But I’ve been told by my producer and actor friends that I must keep at least one major platform, which according to them is Instagram, Facebook, or X. In fact, one of the recent contracts that I signed said, I have an obligation to share the event that I’m involved in at least 3 times via my SNS, so I literally can’t get rid of them 😁

Then, enters the Fediverse concept.

I don’t fully understand it, but it’s basically a collection of social networking sites that can communicate with each other, therefore not bound by one single individual or company unlike other platforms.

In Fediverse, you can move around between platforms. So even if you close down your current account, you can take it with you to another platform.

WordPress, Mastodon, and Bluesky probably are the most famous ones, but recently Threads (half-) entered the Fediverse.

It seems like some instances (or servers) have rejected to connect with Meta-owned Threads as it might interfere with their internet freedom. I don’t really know enough about the consequences of their participation, but we’ll see.

But for now, to look ahead for the future, it’d make sense for me to stick with platforms in the Fediverse.

You are most likely to find my latest news and thoughts on Mastodon and Threads… for the time being.

R.I.P. Katsura Zakoba II

On By Kanariya EishiIn LifeLeave a comment

I have just learned about the passing of another great rakugo master, Katsura Zakoba II.

According to JiJi Press, he passed away due to his asthma yesterday (Wednesday 12 June 2024).

He was one of my favourite performers of all time, and I loved his warm-hearted AND hilarious rakugo so much.

As some of you may know, he has his relatives in New Zealand, and his entire rakugo family once visited here to entertain the Japanese community in Auckland. It seems like the Japanese Kiwi singer, JAY’ED, is his nephew, so perhaps through this connection he decided to produce the show.

This performance was broadcast in Japan. I was laughing so uncontrollably that the TV cameraman caught me, and some of my relatives saw me on TV and contacted me, saying, “I saw you laughing hard out!”.

It was how good he was and how happy he could make people around him.

I was your huge fan, Shisho!

Hope you are having fun catching up with other masters who have already passed on!