Akeome 2015

今年もよろしくお願いします！

As predicted, it's been a while since my last post (though for different reasons). I hope all you readers had pleasant holidays. Mine were...stressful, but I'm still breathing.

Just last weekend I was over at Mint's place. She's been fighting a cold, and I joked that it would be okay if I caught it since I don't have to go back to work until January 5th. Little did I know that I was already incubating some dread bug, which has been plaguing me since then. No fever, but it's really knocked me on my posterior. Seriously, almost this entire week was spent staring at screens and being unproductive. At least I'm getting my money's worth out of Netflix. I expect I'll be recovered enough to drag myself into work on Monday, but blegh. Blegh, I say! Also, think I've drunk more tea in the past five days than during all of my time in Japan.

I scored some excellent electronics-goodies for Christmas - among them the new Dragon Age iteration and Fantasy Life, as predicted. Those have gotten some time. I finally unfogged enough that I can actually focus somewhat on reading and deciphering things like computer component specs, so I also cracked open my trusty PC today, I think for the first time since putting it together 3 years ago. The occasion was the (successful) installation of a new Western Digital 1TB HDD. I'm glad HDDs are relatively easy to install. I've been doing so much nothing over the past few days that it was nice to feel like I've accomplished something.

I also got some very nice cologne and high quality matcha powder (ゲット!) and a few other goodies that will be enjoyed when I'm in a better condition.

And I haven't forgotten about that Ambition of the Slimes update I promised! I even have the screenshots ready...

あけおめ

Happy New Year! Just a quick Japanese post to start 2013.

If you follow a lot of Japanese accounts on Twitter or Facebook or other social media, you've no doubt seen a sizable amount of set phrases thrown around the past couple days. One that I started hearing a lot a few years ago (though it's quite possible it was a popular expression before that and I just was unaware of it) is あけおめ.

Japanese likes to shrink, shorten, abbreviate, and compress words and crunch them into nifty little phrases (NG, anyone?). あけおめ is a shortening of one of the two standard New Year's congratulations - あけましておめでとうございます.

Incidentally, the other standard (ことしもよろしくおねがいします) is also going around as ことよろ.

Note that these are casual and probably shouldn't be proffered to one's superiors or elders.

New Year's Cards: All About Nengajo

Every year around Christmas time in the US, the season's greetings cards make their rounds. Many families, individuals, or even businesses send out Christmas or holiday cards to friends, family, clients, etc. They can be nice, but I've never really been big on them. Though it's much the same thing, I was more into the Japanese version of this custom while I was living over there. Every year, people in Japan send out 年賀状, New Year's greeting cards.

My first year working in Japan, I decided that to improve my Japanese and blend in better (both at work and into the culture), I would send out cards to some of my coworkers. It was kind of hard work, but worth it I think. Got a lot of practice writing kanji, anyway!

One thing I really like about 年賀状 is their variety. I'm not really a big collector, but I enjoyed receiving and keeping all the different cards every year. The general theme of each year's cards depends upon the  animal of that year, derived from the Chinese zodiac (十二支). The years I was in Japan were those of the cow, tiger, and rabbit, so most of the cards I've collected show those animals. Some cards are custom-made and sport family pictures, much like a lot of Christmas cards in the U.S. 

In my experience, many foreigners in Japan don't bother with them and aren't really expected to. So if you do send some out, you may surprise your friends and coworkers. Doing so is a good way to get some back, too. Generally people start sending them a week or two before New Year's (the post office will hold them and wait until New Year's to deliver them), and then during the first week or two of the new year they will often send cards to people from whom they received but didn't originally send one. They often write "年賀状ありがとうございました！" (Thanks for the card) on the front as an acknowledgement.

If you're interested in trying to send some yourself or you've received a card and want to know the deal, here's an explanation for you.

The boxes at the top of the blank side are for the recipient's postal code and the space below that is for their name and address. The person should be addressed as 様 (さま). For example 田中様, 安田様, John Smith様, etc. さま is an honorific, much like さん, but is used to indicate even more respect and formality. Whether you write vertically or horizontally is a stylistic choice.

At the bottom, generally you write your name and address, though some people leave it blank or just write their name.

The  *'s at the bottom represent two numbers that can be found on every New Year's card. Every year the post office holds a lottery. There are big prizes like computers, vacations, and TV's, and smaller ones like free stamps. The larger prizes generally don't have many winners, but the cheaper ones do. The winning numbers (or digits) can be checked online or at your local post office after New Year's. Generally the number on the right is the one you need to look at, but apparently some prizes are restricted by the letter of the digits on the left (A, B, or C). I have won a few stamps in the past, but never bothered to claim them.

Here's an example of a filled-out card:

On the front of the card you don't need to write anything, but you can scribble some personalized message, write some English just for the novelty of it, or use a set phrase (決まり文句).

For New Year's, you'll generally see/hear:

明けましておめでとうございます! 

or

お正月おめでとうございます！

Both basically mean "Happy New Year!"

Anyway, the New Year's cards are one thing I kind of miss about living in Japan. If you're over there but haven't bothered with them, it's your call...but I recommend giving it a shot.

Update (12/19/11): One thing several people have pointed out in the comments that's worth mentioning is that writing something by hand on the card is considered the "right" way to make up a 年賀状 for someone. I guess having everything printed on doesn't show the right level of effort.

Jen of Perogies and Gyoza dropped a link for a New Year's card commercial featured right now on the JP Post website. I had never seen any of these before, but apparently there are a number of these commercials from years past. Here's a previous one (maybe from 2008, which I think was the year of the rat):

A New Year's Miracle!

Ok, well not really a miracle. But a little surprise today. I got a whole bunch of 年賀状(nengajou).

Nengajou are New Year's cards that are sent to friends, family, and coworkers every year. They're a lot like Christmas cards in the States, often homemade and featuring pictures of the family. Usually, though, they include an animal in keeping with those of the Chinese zodiac. This year is the year of the rabbit (卯年), so most of the cards sold in stores feature pictures or designs with rabbits.

Since my first year here, I've been writing and mailing them out. It's a big pain in the ass, so many folks have software they use to just type names and addresses and print the cards out.  Cheaters. I think in a future post I'll show you the proper way to write out a nengajou.

Anyhow, this year I only received a handful during the first couple days of the New Year. It's customary to send them out the week before, so that the post office can sort them and hold them to be delivered on New Year's if possible. Felt a little snubbed, to tell the truth. But today I got a bundle of about twice as many cards as I'd received up until now. I know many of them were just sending me cards because I send them one (also customary to send a card to anyone you've received from but neglected...oops!), but ah well.

The pile on the right is what came today. Ignore the clutter in the background!

Some people enjoy collecting the cards, as many have interesting or beautiful designs printed on them. Me, I've never been a big card guy...but I haven't thrown away any yet, and probably will bring them with me when I return to the States.

A little kanji tidbit - the kanji used for the zodiac animals are separate from those normally used for each respective animal. In this case 卯 is used for rabbit, but normally うさぎ is 兔. They're all different. Except for cow (牛). Because cows always have to be difficult.

My New Year's

Here I am, freshly back from spending New Year's in Yamaguchi prefecture (山口県) with Yoshie's family. They were really nice - fed me, took me sightseeing, ferried me back and forth to the train station. Yamaguchi is the western-most prefecture in the Chugoku region, and according to this map I found, the only pink part of Japan.

Image from Wikipedia

It was my first "Japanese" New Year's, as my first year was spent at home, probably sleeping, and last year I went to Tokyo and hung around with foreigners (whee!). It was pretty much what I had heard it would be. On New Year's Eve, we sat down at the kotatsu table and ate a variety of stuff - salad, soba soup, sashimi, etc. It was pretty tasty. Then we watched TV for about five hours. This was my least favorite part of the trip.

See, in Japan there is a popular kind of TV show called "batsu game." I believe the Simpsons parodied it once - the family traveled to Japan and in order to get home again they had to appear on a game show to try to win some money. But once there, the host explained to them that while American gameshows reward success, Japanese ones punish failure. These penalty games are shows in which contestants, who are usually comedians, must try to avoid messing up and being punished. As you can imagine, they fail frequently, and most of the penalties are physical. There's one popular kind, which is what we watched for about five hours, in which the contestants must participate in some tasks without laughing, or they are punished. Sometimes they just sit around and talk, trying to make each other laugh. I kid you not, there were some segments of this show where the comedians were sitting around a table playing with what looked like a Japanese Ken doll, trying to make each other laugh. When they inevitably did, some guys wearing ski masks and fatigues would run in and hit them in the butt with what looked like a hard rubber bat. This was funny for about 30 minutes for me, then got old quickly. 

There was also one part of the show were some guys in black bodysuits would run after them, and if caught they would have to undergo some kind of physical abuse. One penalty was standing under a window and having them put some blunt fish-hook looking implements in their nose while some guy on the second floor reeled. Another was a machine that kicked them in the balls.

I know slap-stick humor is big in Japan, but after a certain point it gets to be a little disgusting. You'd think getting hit in the groin (or even the butt) a few times could cause some permanent damage. But still, people laugh. Maybe if you know the comedians you can better appreciate their reactions (or their punishment). I know I'd like to see SMAP on a batsu game.

Around 11:30 we walked to a nearby shrine and Yoshie and her parents said a prayer and got their fortunes once midnight hit. It was cold, but they had a big bonfire going outside the shrine.

Hatsumode

It was a good trip overall - nice experience to have. I think the coolest part of the trip was when we visited this little town where hawks were hanging around waiting for food. Friggin hawks, sitting around like crows or seagulls. People would buy bread at nearby stores and throw pieces into the air, and the hawks would swoop by and grab them. That's where I saw the most badass thing, possibly ever: Yoshie's father ripped off a piece of bread, held it above his head, and just looked at us cooly as a hawk flew by and grabbed it out of his hand.

So it was a good experience, but man, Japanese-style New Year's can be a challenge if you're either not big on Japanese food or not big on Japanese TV.