Holidays (2022)
It was holiday season and while Xmas is not as big a deal in Japan, New Years is the big family holiday that brings everyone together.
Xmas Spirit
For retailers, Xmas is an occasion to put up decorations and spread the holiday feeling, and the Umeda area was full of neat displays. Hankyu Department store seemed to have the most impressive setup.
There was a whole series of Alice in Wonderland themed Xmas story displays, that had mechanical moving parts and puppets on strings. It was quite impressive.
However, Xmas is not a major holiday, there is no time off from work and schools do not shut down. Rather than family or churches, it seems to have morphed to some gift giving and a romantic occasion for couples. For some reason chicken dinners and Xmas cakes have become tradition, maybe a successful campaign by Big Poultry and Big Flour? Normally chicken is pretty inexpensive, but I saw some ads for chicken dinners costing like 3x the normal meal. weird!
Moreover, the city also spends quite a bit on light shows outdoors too. One includes a 30ft tall rubber ducky, and another with projections on the government building with music and special effects.
Some neat western styled gov building, looks better with lights! While it was pretty cold outside, these were all within walking distance from home and made for a fun stroll.
Legoland Discovery Center
We had been meaning to check out the Legoland Discovery Center. It’s not quite Legoland, but it’s more exciting than a Lego store. I guess there are a few of these around the world, but it was the first time for us.
Some fun stuff to play with and build.
Some cool Osaka scenery, including the Glico Man, Sky Building… and wait, there is that gov building again on the left!
It was cool for a couple hours, and since it’s all indoors it was a good activity when the weather was bad. It’s also next to a big aquarium, so could be a good stop for travelers wanting to keep the little ones entertained.
New Years
We headed over to the wife’s parents house for New Years. Most Japanese companies shut down for about a week around New Years, so there is a ton of people moving about to either go see family or take trips/vacations. That means things get overbooked, pricey and hectic so be warned if you’re traveling to Japan around this time.
We had traditional Osechi food prepared by my mother in law. She spent a good day or two working on the dishes, which all seem to take lots of preparation. Most of the foods are also only seen during this holiday, and they typically last a few days so the family eats them over a couple of days. Not pictured, but one of my favorites is the soup with mochi. Kids will also receive money from relatives in envelopes, I believe this is similar to Chinese New Years… just the envelopes aren’t red.
Due to the laborious and challenging nature of Osechi cooking, stores and restaurants offer partial and fully made sets that should be ordered months in advance. They tend to be pricey, but seem to be a popular alternative.
As part of the tradition of New Years, we went to a couple shrines to pray for good luck for the coming year. The neighborhood shrine near the parents place was pretty quiet, with a few people trickling in and out.
We then went to a larger more popular shrine, and the line in front was quite surprising. It took us about 20 minutes to actually get in, but the whole place was quite festive with trinkets, cotton candy, fried street foods and a bon fire.
Line continued inside to the shrines in the back, but plenty of good luck charms for sale too! Must be a big day for donations and sales:) This place even had a horse you could feed… I guess I was expecting a more somber affair, but the whole scene reminded me of a carnival atmosphere. They might have been selling beer too, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Also a bit surprising, while the offices are closed, many of the retail, restaurants and malls were open from the 2nd. So I guess kids with their gift money have plenty of ways to spend it! I bet it’s one of the big shopping days of the year.
We had a great time with family, eating, drinking and generally relaxing. It was my first New Years in Japan, so was really great to experience.
Hikari Ramen
New ramen place near our home. We had to check it out, and it was pretty tasty. Then, we saw construction of another new ramen place just a couple doors down and will open soon. Good thing we like ramen.
