We hope you had a lovely Christmas with family and/or friends wherever you are in the world. We had a nice family dinner on Christmas Eve, complete with Christmas Cake that my daughter baked — truth be told, December 24th is arguably more important in Japan than the 25th here — then we enjoyed a relaxing day on Sunday. Unfortunately this is where things get really busy in Japan. First there are nengajo to write, the New Year’s cards which Japanese families exchange with each other, which have to be printed and mailed by the 27th or so in order for them to be delivered properly on January 1st. Then we have to schedule time for oh-soji, the “big cleaning” that Japanese do so they can enter the new year with a clean slate. We’ve got two “big cleanings” actually: one at J-List tomorrow, when the staff will take a few hours to clean every inch of our company, and again for our house. There’s also plenty of shopping to do, as everyone stocks up on whatever they need for the coming New Year’s holidays, including replacing all toothbrushes. Do you do anything like “big cleaning” in your country?
The end of the year is is a busy time in Japan.
