Top Japanese Culture: 5 Traditions

You Must Try in Japan

by Akane N.

There are many types of Japanese traditions and culture that you’ll
experience in Japan. One typical aspect of Japanese culture that you will see
often is bowing. The Japanese bow to say hello or welcome, to say goodbye
or come again, to say thank you, to say grace before a meal, to pray at a
shrine, etc. You’ll probably be bowed to at least once a day while in Japan.
You don’t have to bow back, but giving back a little bob of your head is proper
etiquette and will show that you see or you hear them. Another thing you will
hear a lot is the word “irasshaimase” which means welcome. The store or
restaurant staff will say this every time a person comes in. It’s the norm in
Japan so don’t be surprised when they all say or, according to the type of
store, shout it out together at you. There are also Japanese cultural traditions
that you can experience and enjoy together with the local people. These are
mostly seasonal events that can be enjoyed anywhere in Japan.

5 Traditions You Must Try

 BonDance Festival

“Obon” is a special time of year for the people. It’s a Japanese cultural
tradition held in the middle of summer to honor ancestors. In Buddhism, it is
believed that the spirits of the ancestors come back to visit their living family
once a year during this time. It’s a holiday for many companies so there’s a
great migration of people all over the country in order to gather at their family
homes. People clean their family gravestones and household altars, offer
 flowers and food to the ancestors, and have prayers chanted by a monk for
their ancestors.

There are also “bon” (short for “obon”) festivals with “bon” dances held during
this period. It’s a lively festival held at temples within a community, with music
and dancing. A lot of people, especially the women wear summer kimonos
called “yukata”. There’s a stage built in the middle of a large empty space and
the people beating the drums and the lead dancers are up on this stage. And
everyone else dances in a circle around this stage. All of the dances are
simple and repetitive so anyone can join in just by copying the people around
them. This festival is great fun, so you should try experience it if you’re visiting
Japan in the middle of summer, especially with your kids. If you’re in Tokyo,
the festivals will be on the weekend around the 13-15th of August, but the
timing is different in various regions of the country so ask a local guide of the
region that you’re interested in and have them take you there. You can look at
their profile pages and send them inquiries directly about what you’re
interested in.

Summer Festivals / Fireworks

 Summer Festivals are another fun and exciting Japanese tradition that kids
can enjoy too. Japanese fireworks are some of the most elaborate and
colorful in the world. They develop new types of fireworks every year and the
fireworks festivals are a summer tradition from long ago. This is an event
where you can enjoy wearing a “yukata” too. There are fireworks held almost
every weekend from the end of July to the end of August and thousands of
people gather at these festivals. It’s very difficult to navigate these crowds or
know the best place to see the fireworks from, so I really
recommend requesting a tour and having a local guide take you there and
back to your hotel. The trains, the station nearest the event, and the streets
 will be crammed with people before and after the fireworks so it’s really easy
to get lost. However, you cannot really experience a Japanese summer
without seeing the fireworks. You can also enjoy the Japanese food culture by
trying all the different kinds of street food they sell at the food stands at these
festivals. The usual stands are for fried noodles, fried chicken, and takoyaki
( fried batter balls with octopus in them). They’re delicious!

New Years Holiday

 The New Years holiday is another special time in Japan. Unlike western
cultures, it’s actually a very quiet event. It starts by cleaning the house from
top to bottom to greet in the new year. On New Years Eve, just before
 midnight, there is a Japanese cultural tradition of eating “toshikoshi soba” or
soba noodles to greet the new year. Eating the long soba noodles is said to
be a prayer for having a long and fruitful life. Then if there’s a temple nearby,
you’ll hear the deep gong of the temple bell ring out at the stroke of midnight.
This bell is rung 108 times, the number of sins humans have according to
Buddhism. The bell is rung either by a monk or by regular people who gather
at the temple to offer thanks for the previous year and pray for good fortune in
the new. On New Year’s morning, it’s tradition to eat a dish called “osechi”. It’s
like a large family lunch box packed full of food which are said to bring good
fortune in long life, prosperity, etc. It's actually quite beautiful to look at too.
And we also eat a soup called “ozouni” with a piece of “mochi” or a rice cake
in it. In more traditional families, it is also customary to drink a sip of “otoso”, a
New Years spiced sake, said to drive out bad luck and bring good fortune.
And there is a special greeting for the New Years. We say “akemashite
omedeto gozaimasu” which means Happy New Year! Children also receive
little paper envelopes with an allowance in them from relatives, so it’s a happy
time for them as well.

Cherry Blossom Viewing

 As you know, spring is all about seeing the cherry blossoms in Japan. They
bloom from around the last days of March to the first week of April. Nowadays
there are many tours to take you to see the beautiful cherry blossoms. One
thing you’ll probably see a lot when going on these tours are people having
picnics under the flowering trees. This is a custom called “ohanami” or literally
cherry blossom viewing. People enjoy talking, eating, drinking alcohol, and
overall having a good time under the cherry blossoms. Doing this at night is
called “yozakura” or night cherry blossoms. Night picnics tend to have more
alcohol and get more rowdy with drunk people. Even when there are no lawns
to sit on, they spread plastic sheets on the asphalt pavement of the walkways
and just have their picnic there. There are so many people in the parks on
weekends that you’ll want to go on a weekday if possible. And make sure to
 dress warmly as it’s still very chilly after sunset in spring. If you don’t know
where to go to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, you can look at this blog.

The parks in this blog are the obvious choices to see the cherry blossoms and
are probably the most popular choices when going “ohanami”. You also could
go to a smaller off the beaten path type of park but you’ll probably only find a
few cherry blossom trees there. And with cherry blossoms, the more trees
there are the more beautiful the scene looks, so I recommend going to one of
the most famous parks even if it is overcrowded with people.

Tea Ceremony
Now one of the most popular traditional experiences of Japanese culture that
foreign visitors would like to try is the tea ceremony. It’s a beautiful custom to
see and one that lets you experience the Japanese food culture as well. A
lady dressed in a kimono will make the matcha tea with hot water boiled in an
old fashioned kettle and stir it up with a little wooden whisk. Make sure to pay
attention to her every movement. In the tea ceremony, every move of the
hostess’s hands are considered part of the “art of tea”, so it’s not only about
the taste of the final product. Matcha tea is thick and bitter, so trying it could
be a bit of a challenge especially for children. If you are willing to try it, it’s an
aesthetically amazing experience.

Where to experience a tea ceremony can be seen in this blog here. There are
those that allow you to experience making the tea yourself, and then there are
those in which you just participate as a guest of the ceremony. The fees start
from around a minimum of 4,000 yen. Some places also offer the additional
option of doing the ceremony in a kimono, so it could be a great photo
moment.