it's almost the end of the year welcome
to Tokyo Tuesday it's your regular
viewer welcome back now I wasn't
originally gonna do a video on this
topic but I put up a podcast about a
week ago talking about Christmas versus
New Year's in Japan and after the number
of emails I got from you guys requesting
a video on it I kind of had to do one so
we're gonna try and have some fun with
this today now these are a little more
Christmas
[Music]
all right now because there's a lot of
information to cover this I'm gonna try
and make every single point short and
sweet starting with Christmas versus New
Year's in Japan Christmas is really
small we'll talk about that later but
New Year's New Year's is everything
I want to show you some stuff in here so
let's go this way
all right this one works it's Christmas
ask
so I'm originally from Canada and in
Canada Christmases family time above all
else but here in Japan New Year's is
family time and it's all about the
relaxation and the food so I've come
into a Japanese department store in the
hopes of maybe finding some of that New
Year's food to actually show you guys
during New Year's there are two meals
that are really popular one is osechi
and the other is ozoni these right here
are some examples of osechi I'm actually
in a totally different department store
right now and it's totally different
part of Japan look how beautiful some of
these on each individual ingredient
inside the osechi bento box is meant to
represent something like for example
these yellow hoodie here these are meant
to represent money and wealth and it is
getting really hot in here so let's head
back outside one of the big things that
you need to know about New Year's is
that Tokyo gets really quiet most people
leave Tokyo and head back to their
hometowns to spend time with their
families and we're in the West we
decorate for Christmas and all of that
in Japan they're more likely to decorate
for New Year's or do one thing that we
usually do in the spring which is
cleaning they do a year-end cleaning
here in Japan instead of spring cleaning
and outside of that it's just imagining
sitting in a heated table called a
kotatsu eating Mika and watching New
Year's TV specials which are huge by the
way and on the note of writing Christmas
trees I give this one like a 2 out of 10
even Charlie Brown's little tree is
better than that one
[Music]
all right there should be a Christmas
tree in here all right well technically
there is but it's a little small and
surprisingly that's something that I've
noticed over the years living in Japan
that the Christmas decorations are
actually a lot less now in 2018 than
they used to be back in 2007 and those
lights are terrible let's get back out
there like pointing case this entire
area right here a few years ago was all
Christmas life all up there where you
see the greenery was all lit up and all
down here is a giant Christmas display
all these trees were lit up and this
year there's just nothing and it's like
mid December right now
[Music]
all of this used to have beautiful
Christmas lights it's just gone
all right
all the real 10 points for real
poinsettias all right that one's not too
bad that kind of feels like a proper
Christmas tree so I think I'll give that
one about an 8 to 9 out of 10 just in
terms of scale they also tripled up for
impact they really use the corner on
this one I approve of this Christmas
tree moving on we were in the middle of
talking about New Year's weren't we
so we've talked about the food we've
talked about Tokyo getting real quiet
because everyone goes home to their
families and kids get something called
otoshi dama it's where their elders like
grandparents and parents give them money
in the New Year's another half-decent
tree we'll check it out in a second but
while we're here I wanted to give you
guys a little bit of like end of your
advice in Japanese culture if it's gonna
be your last time seeing somebody at the
end of the year you say yo-yo Toshio it
basically just means have a good year
and then when you see them at the
beginning of the next year you say okay
must've made it though it's happy new
year that tree just changed colors I'm
doing alright they get bonus points for
the doves because well those are cute hi
doves
that's actually pretty good this
Christmas tree though alright not too
bad it also changes colors I kind of
like the fact that it changes colors but
it also feels a little bit gimmicky so I
think it best I'm only gonna be able to
give this particular tree about a 7 out
of 10 it is nice though back behind me
is the Tokyo International Forum and
there should be some Christmas
decorations there so we're gonna go
check it out so far we're not off to a
great start here
mind you this flooring is pretty cool
look at that look at that you know what
let's have some fun with this now again
the International Forum here is a place
that used to have a lot of Christmas
decorations but over the years once
again it has decreased now in all
fairness a lot of the Christmas
decorations decreased after the
earthquake for two reasons number one
set to then saving energy and number two
just overall budget the scale of the
Christmas decorations in Tokyo was off
the hook it was absolutely unbelievable
but again New Year's is the really big
one and if I'm not mistaken there's a
pretty interesting treaty on this way so
let's go check it him if you've been
following the channel for a while you
may recognize this area because in the
very first episode ever of Tokyo
Tuesday's Sharla and I came through here
you can actually walk all the way from
Tokyo Station to Ginza you retro and
Beyond underground without stepping a
foot outside anyway what's up little
guys look they dance
they do change up the display from time
to time on these ones and they do dancer
until a while ago they were all sheep I
got it I got it I got it
next year is the year of the boar which
is why they've changed it up to boar so
I guess they changed it up once a year
it's still not exactly Christmasy so I
think at best I'm going to be able to
give it about an 8.5 out of 10 but all
right that's about the extent of the
lights that we're gonna see here so
we're gonna walk over the Montano G area
where we can see a lot more just kind of
enjoying this little Christmas walk
[Music]
lighting objects yes lighting object
[Music]
just for the record there are a lot of
Christmas lights around Tokyo Shinjuku
is one of the most beautiful areas to
see the Christmas illuminations as
they're called I personally love the
area of modern don't you let me show you
this little square here
[Music]
not really Christmas tree but it is
Christmas decoration I think I'll give
it about a six and a half maybe seven
out of ten
[Music]
you know what this seems like a pretty
good time to cover New Year's Eve itself
New Year's Eve in Tokyo is quite the
experience it is the only day of the
year the trains don't stop running at
all there is 24 hour train service and
that is worth it all in its own areas
like should be a crossing do have a big
countdown and there's a big again is not
quite as good now as it was a couple
years ago it's really heavily policed
now but nonetheless whether you want to
do the Japanese thing and stay at home
or visit a temple and/or shrine or
whether you want to go out and do a more
western style New Year's Eve you can do
both outside of that New Year's even New
Year's Day in its simplest form New
Year's Day everything in Japan is closed
like everything in Japan is closed a lot
of people will visit a temple and/or a
shrine for something called Hudson mole
day and or they'll try and wake up
really early in the morning to see the
first sunrise which is called Hudson he
knows it I'm learning a lot of
vocabulary today this one this was not
meant to be a Japanese lesson but
there's there's a lot of stuff in there
oh and I almost completely forgot about
toasty cozy soba it's like year-end soba
it was like the last thing that you eat
you're not supposed to break the noodles
either a specific long life and
longevity and think that pretty much
covers that and I also realized that I
haven't rated these lights yet this
entire street on both sides here in
modern LG is lit up like this it's one
of my favorite spots every single year
just because of how nice and clean it
looks so I would probably give this
somewhere between
I was gonna say somewhere between a nine
and a ten but more likely closer to a
nine because there's no like big
beautiful Christmas tree around here so
it's just the light
[Music]
now January 2nd is generally when all
the New Year's craziness starts all the
sales happen all the COO Bouguereau
all that stuff but there is actually one
really neat thing about January 2nd that
not a lot of people talk about is the
fact that the emperor comes out one of
two times during the entire year it's do
a greeting so if you were to go to like
the imperial palace grounds you can
actually see the emperor come out and
greet everyone I've never done it I
should do it
stepping aside from New Year's which I
think we've covered fairly well and
touching on Christmas a little bit more
all over Tokyo you will find Christmas
lights or as they're called
illuminations just like this one but
Christmas is a little bit different here
in Japan than it is back home I'm sure
you already know this but for good
measure I'm gonna cover it anyway all
right let me try and cover this short
and clear so back home at least for me
Christmas is the big family time in New
Year's is for friends in Japan it's
reversed we've seen that in Japan New
Year's is for family and Christmas I
would say Christmas is for friends but
really Christmas is for well dates more
than anything is not Christmas itself
it's Christmas Eve you know this seems
like a pretty good time to tell you guys
the story my first ever major Christmas
related culture shock in Japan Christmas
morning December 25th I woke up really
early and went into the Ginza area so
that I could enjoy the Christmas
atmosphere instead you know what I got I
got cleaning crews scraping reindeers
off of windows and trees coming down
Christmas lights coming off the
buildings I was not prepared for that in
the least so yeah Christmas Day in Japan
is not as big as Christmas Eve
that pretty much covers Christmas itself
right it is a very different experience
from back home and it's got a lot of
parts that are great in its own but
every now and then every now and then I
like to go back I won't be going back
this year I did go back last year for
the first time in three years now as I
said at the beginning this is based off
of a podcast that I have linked below
which goes over all of this in a lot
more detail so if this is a topic that
you're interested in feel free to check
that out if you do have questions leave
them in the comments below cuz you guys
know I will be hanging out with you down
there and if you enjoyed this video it
would mean the world to me if you take
the time to give it a like maybe share
it and you guys know that I will see you
again real soon
I'm just gonna turn the camera over to
these lights
[Applause]
[Music]
it's a Christmas egg give it 7 stars