New year in Japan is arguably the most important holiday of the year, and as such is filled with traditions. There is the traditional osetchi-ryōji, many different kinds of new year’s food served in stackable boxes. There is the traditional hatsumōde, the year’s first visit to a shrine or temple. Otoshidama, new year’s money, is …
Being in Japan for the winter holidays for the third year in a row, both my wife and I miss, apart from seeing our close relatives of course, the Swedish Christmas smorgasbord. My mother makes the most beautiful meal with all the seasonal delicacies including my favorite, pickled herrings, and I can only hope that …
Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom that is celebrated each summer, where the particulars differs between different parts of Japan. My wife explains it as a three day celebration of the spirits of ancestors who during these days come back to visit graves and house altars, and the living relatives offer food and sake and …
Being the first summer living in a house with a little garden in Japan, being father of a son having just turned one, I wanted to make a little Swedish imprint in our daily Japanese life and celebrate Midsummer together. Midsummer is a big festivity in Sweden, and apart from eating an drinking, the Midsummer …
Happy new year. Our first New Year spent in Japan, and quite different from Sweden. After trying to celebrate a traditional Swedish Christmas (something that was quite unsuccessful, since my wife are very particular about what she eats and the range of pickled herring anyway is very limited) we decided to try to do a …