January 1 – New Year’s Day (Ganjitsu)
The second Monday in January – Adult’s Day (Seijin-no hi)
February 11 – National Founding Day (Kenkoku Kinen-no hi)
The New Year and Obon are the biggest events in the annual calendar. Families are expected to gather at the family home – no matter how scattered the members may be – to honor their ancestors. On the night of New Year’s Eve or the next day, they visit their local shrine (in Tokyo, the number of visitors to Meiji Shrine alone is in the millions). But there are usually no wild New Year countdown celebrations. In recent years, Christmas has become a big – at least in the commercial sense – event. Couples usually try to get together for a date on Christmas Eve.
Seijin no Hi celebrates people coming of age at 20. On the second Monday of January (until 2000, it was January 15th), 20-year olds dress up and visit a shrine or attend a municipal ceremony to honor their reaching adulthood. It is a good opportunity to see hordes of young people in their finest traditional dress. Many young men wear kimono too but the majority tend to go for suits these days. Recent years have seen the day often marred by rowdy behavior and a general lack of respect for the formal aspects of the day.
Setsubun on February 3rd or 4th marks the beginning of spring. The word literally means “the spliting of the seasons”. People throw beans at someone wearing a mask and representing a demon and chant ‘Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi’ or ‘Out with the demons, in with good luck!’ Often celebrities visit major shrines to throw out beans and other goodies to large crowds.
The focal point for the Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival is a display of dolls representing the emperor, empress and their court in formal dress. Most homes with young girls will have a display, from simple dolls and cards to elaborate setups costing hundreds of thousands of yen. Children’s Day is actually a celebration for boys, corresponding to the Doll Festival for girls. Warrior dolls or mock samurai armor are displayed and koinobori or carp streamers are flown by families with boys (the carp is considered a symbol of success). On both days a special meal is eaten. Children’s Day falls during the Golden Week holiday, which along with New Year and Obon is one of the busiest holiday periods throughout the country, with millions of Japanese also traveling abroad.
