Japanese with anime voice: episode8
Akemashite omedetougozaimasu! Hello, I’m Sachi.
Is it still New Year’s Eve for you? Japan welcomed the New Year one step ahead of you!
Last year…it feels strange to describe yesterday as last year, even though it’s only been half a day since the beginning of the year. LOL
I just started Japanese with Animevoice last November, and I would like to thank all of my listeners for your support over the last year! Thank you for following me.
How do you spend the year-end in your country? In this topic, I would like to introduce two year-end customs in Japan.
First one. Big cleaning.
Cleaning up is a big deal. It means cleaning every corner of the house, not only inside but also outside. Not only ordinary households, but also companies clean their offices on the last day of work, and of course, schools as well. When I was in elementary school, the usual school cleaning was to wipe windows with newspaper. When I did that, I really felt that it was the end of the year.
Cleaning is hard work, and the cold weather makes it a hassle, but it feels great to welcome the New Year with a clean house.
I worked a little harder than usual last year and even cleaned the tiles on the front door and outside stairs! However, my partner did most of the work, and I just washed off the dirt with water. LOL Rainwater on the entrance tiles can cause algae to grow. Not only do they make the stairs dirty, but if left alone, they can be slippery and dangerous, so you really should clean them more often. But using a sponge to scrub the staircase after applying water and detergent is much cleaner than using a deck brush! The sponge is Gekiochi-kun and the detergent is Utamaro. I think this is the best combination for cleaning!
I heard that if you clean the entrance, it is easier for God to come in. It is said that God comes to a clean place, so I polished the tiles to a shine and waxed the floor for the last time in about 3 years, and God may come to our house in this 2024.
The second is to eat Toshikoshi soba.
Toshikoshi soba means soba eaten on New Year’s Eve, just as it sounds. We eat soba on New Year’s Eve. I don’t think most people know the meaning of why we eat soba. I was born into it, and it was so commonplace that I never even wondered why.
I looked up the reason and found that it has the meaning of Yakubarai, Yakubarai means to drop something bad. Soba is easier to cut than other noodles. When you eat it, it breaks easily. Soba is eaten with the hope that the bad things and hardships of the past year will not be carried over to the next year and that the New Year will begin with a good feeling. That’s why it is sometimes called “Enkiri-soba. If that’s the case, it might be a good idea to eat juwari-soba not only at the end of the year but also whenever you feel bad karma!
Before I learned the meaning of this, I thought it was just a custom to eat soba on New Year’s Eve, but now that I know the meaning, I have come to eat soba while hoping that bad karma will break off. However, in my case, since I have been at home for a long time, I have no connection with anyone, so it doesn’t matter much if I wish for it or not. But last year, my mother-in-law gave me some Jinenjo, so I made Tororo-soba. Tororo is a sticky food. Even if soba is easy to break, with sticky Tororo, does it break the bad karma? LOL
What kind of year-end customs do you have in your country? Please let me know in the Q&A section! I would like to hear about the cultures and customs of various countries.
What kind of year will 2024 be after such a clean body and mind? By the way, have you set your goals and aspirations for this year? I already have! And a lot of them! I will do my best to report that I have achieved all of them at the end of this year! I will continue to bring you many episodes with anime voice this year, and I look forward to working with you again this year! I hope that this year will be a year of great progress for Japanese with anime voice and for you, my dear listeners!
