Well, 2011 is finally at an end. It was a very strange year, filled with events that no one could have foreseen, starting off on a positive note (the Arab Spring, plus a man in Japan using the name Tiger Mask to anonymously donate school backpacks to orphaned children), then turning tragic as Japan experienced a 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11. The earthquake itself wouldn’t have been that much of a problem — Japan eats those for breakfast — if it hadn’t been for the tsunamis that caused so much sadness and loss of life in the Touhoku coastal areas. The aftermath of the disaster was terrible, though the outpouring of support from the world was wonderful to see, from the U.S. military’s “Operation Tomodachi” rescue mission to thousands of images of support on Pixiv plus lots of help given by people like you. Despite the amount of damage, I was amazed at how quickly Japan got back to normal. All the suppliers J-List buys from were up and running within a few days, and the Japanese post office showed up to pick up outgoing packages the Monday after the quake as if nothing had happened, and as a result there were almost no delays shipping products to our customers.
December 31st is an important day in Japan, called Omisoka, when Japanese will make their final preparations for entering the new year. They’ll bustle around town buying cleaning supplies to finish their oh-souji or “big cleaning” and will probably get their car washed, so they can enter the new year with everything fresh and new. (I finished my own “big cleaning” by rebuilding my Star Wars figures, which experienced a strange disturbance in the Force on March 11.) New Year’s Eve is the day when Japanese eat Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles, which supposedly helps everyone enjoy long lives because the noodles are long, and December 31st is the busiest day for restaurants that serve noodles. In the evening everyone will gather around the TV to watch Kohaku, the “Red and White Song Battle” which is the JPOP event of the year, with everyone from AKB48 to Gackt to Arashi performing. (Fans of J-List’s prepaid iTunes Japan prepaid cards can browse this year’s Kohaku music on iTunes Japan, or check out the official Kohaku iPhone app). In a lot of ways, the roles of New Years and Christmas are “flipped”: January 1st in Japan is a day for solemn celebration with family while Christmas is often an excuse to have a loud party complete with firecrackers and noisemakers.
Anyway, it’s time to sign off for another year, our fifteenth since starting this quirky little company (wow). I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your kind support over the past year — J-List is really blessed to have the most awesome customers in the world, and we love you all. When wishing someone a happy new year within the month of December, you say yoi o-toshi o (lit. “I hope you have a good crossing into the new year”); after January 1 arrives you say akemashite omedetou (lit. “congratulations on opening the new year”). So until next year, yoi o-toshi o!
A sad year, but one in which Japan learned she had friends.
