>>1255
Working all the time makes it easy to forget these holidays exist.
Happy holidays friends

>>1257
>Happy holidays friends
Late happy Halloween!

>Working all the time makes it easy to forget these holidays exist.
I thought holidays like Halloween are taken more seriously in US than in Japan.
Is it still normal there to do nothing special on Halloween?

>>1273
Halloween isn't supported in corporate world IIRC.
Honestly, whether I'm given a holiday or not doesn't make much of a difference anyway.

>>1280
Did you see actual Jack-o'-Lanterns made from pumpkins irl this year?
We are not serious about Halloween to the point that we grow foreign pumpkins just for it.
I heard pumpkins for Halloween are not eaten usually

>>1302
Yes, I came across a couple of them when walking around. Only a couple though.

As for whether or not we the pumpkins–you can toast the seeds and munch on those. They're tasty enough.


What is the most serious holiday in Japan?

Happy Thanksgiving day! It's a holiday here too but no turkey birds

>>1303

>Yes, I came across a couple of them when walking around.
Cute!

>you can toast the seeds and munch on those. They're tasty enough.
I can't imagine the taste
I hardly see edible seeds that are big enough to munch

>What is the most serious holiday in Japan?
On most holidays people here don't seem to really care about why they are holidays
Probably New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are the holidays where the most number of Japanese try to do something traditional

Anyone got some new year resolutions?

>>1323
Happy belated Thanksgiving.

New years rapidly approaches...

What are some "traditional" things to do on New Years? I know you guys visit the shrines all dressed up (I think), wondering if there's something else.

Happy Winter Solstice!
We'll have jiaozi today.

>>1413
How was the jiaozi?

Merry Xmas!
There is a strange new tradition in China. Apples are eaten on Christmas Eve because 平安夜(silent night/píng ān yè) and apple(苹果/píng guǒ) are partial tones in Chinese.

>>1414
>How was the jiaozi?
Very nice!

>>1421
>There is a strange new tradition in China. Apples are eaten on Christmas Eve because 平安夜(silent night/píng ān yè) and apple(苹果/píng guǒ) are partial tones in Chinese.
You get similar things in the west. There was a viral video a while ago about some persons celebrating 'Hanksgiving', Thanksgiving but themed around the actor Tom Hanks. Though these are nearly always a departure from the traditional holiday celebrations rather than supplemental and never wide spread. I always wonder how nations that aren't Christian end up celebrating Christmas and other Christian holidays. But given how secular Christmas is becoming in the west I guess it really shouldn't surprise me if that version spreads far and wide.

>>1412
>Anyone got some new year resolutions?
One of my THIS year's resolutions was to improve my Chinese. I think I made some progress but it wasn't so great
I'm not even happy with my English and I keep reusing the almost same resolutions every year
What about you?

>What are some "traditional" things to do on New Years? I know you guys visit the shrines all dressed up (I think)
Yeah that's what occurs to me first too

>wondering if there's something else.
We eat soba noodles at New Year's Eve and eat rice cake at New Year's Day.
People do omikuji at shrines, basically the same thing as omikuji on imageboards

>>1413
>Happy Winter Solstice!
>We'll have jiaozi today.
I didn't know jiaozi dumplings are associated with the winter solstice in China
I should add the jiaozi emoji for December
Is the winter solstice celebration more popular than Christmas?

>>1421
Late Merry Christmas!

>Apples are eaten on Christmas Eve because 平安夜(silent night/píng ān yè) and apple(苹果/píng guǒ) are partial tones in Chinese.
It's fun learning how people integrate foreign cultures into their culture

>>1426
>Is the winter solstice celebration more popular than Christmas?
I can't compare them.
Winter solstice is a very traditional holiday, but its activities is now almost exclusively about eating jiaozi or glue pudding, its existence is no longer about celebration.
Christmas is new, but there are so many celebrations with it, there's no doubt that people like novelty and fun!
There are actually some people who want to boycott foreign holidays as being detrimental to traditional culture, but in fact it no longer has any religious connotation for people.

>It's fun learning how people integrate foreign cultures into their culture
Here's another example. People in Shanghai decided to dress up as Chinese meme characters for Halloween this year, turning the streets into one big comic con, and trick-or-treating is not popular in China.

>>1425
>I'm not even happy with my English and I keep reusing the almost same resolutions every year
What would it take for you to be happy with your English?

Language learning goals can be difficult because they can be hard to quantify.
You may find more satisfaction by setting a goal of understanding 99% of a show, or a popular English book you've always wanted to read.

>What about you?

Hmmm... my goal is to make sure I am not in despair when next year goes around and I didn't accomplish much.
So I am figuring out the things I ought to do in order to avoid that despair.
That's why I wrote a whole mini-essay on identity.
I just want to work toward something on my own terms, I suppose.



>>1421
>Very nice!
Is jaozi considered unhealthy?

Happy new year guys!🎉

>>1427
>Winter solstice is a very traditional holiday, but its activities is now almost exclusively about eating jiaozi or glue pudding, its existence is no longer about celebration.
>Christmas is new, but there are so many celebrations with it, there's no doubt that people like novelty and fun!
I guess the same can be said in Japan about many traditional events and Christmas too

I did a little research and learned that it depends on the area which jiaozi dumplings or glue puddings are eaten on the winter solstice
You always go with jiaozi?

I also relearned winter squash is eaten on the winter solstice in Japan. I think i heard of it long ago but I forgot it

>People in Shanghai decided to dress up as Chinese meme characters for Halloween this year, turning the streets into one big comic con
I searched for Shanghai Halloween images. They look fun
Was that only in Shanghai?

>>1435
Happy New Year Ikouchan! We found some really old sparklers from 1994 and surprisingly enough they all worked perfectly fine. They didn't sparkle as much or as bright as a new one and took a while for them to start sparkling but it was beautiful nonetheless.

>>1436
I know the feeling!

Happy new year!

>>1433
>Is jaozi considered unhealthy?
I searched the internet,it shows that dumplings are not about being healthy or unhealthy, it's about what you fill them with.

>>1435
>You always go with jiaozi?
yes. In my area, we only eat glue puddings on the Lantern Festival!

>Was that only in Shanghai?
It looks that way, but I think the activity will spread to other areas over the next year.

>>1424
>I always wonder how nations that aren't Christian end up celebrating Christmas and other Christian holidays.
I don't even know what people who celebrate Christmas in Japan actually wanna celebrate about Christmas

I googled the history of Christmas in Japan and I learned it was already celebrated in 1900s

>Hanksgiving
I've never heard of it! Thank you for sharing it
Halloween was associated with wearing costumes in Japan. I never expected people to do that on Thanksgiving Day

>>1433
>What would it take for you to be happy with your English?
When I make a draft of replies to posts on this board, I have to revise my replies many times because they have a lot of unnatural wording that would fail to convey what I intended to mean
I wish I could instantly improvise natural English sentences like native speakers do. Or at least communicable sentences. That would make me happy with my English

>You may find more satisfaction by setting a goal of understanding 99% of a show, or a popular English book you've always wanted to read.
One of my New Year's resolutions should be to read novels and comics in English on Kindle. I just learned last year that they are available

>my goal is to make sure I am not in despair when next year goes around and I didn't accomplish much.
I hope you accomplish something this year
I believe whether I despair or not depends on what I expect. Unachievable goals would leave me in despair but expecting to accomplish nothing would depress me.

>>1436
>We found some really old sparklers from 1994 and surprisingly enough they all worked perfectly fine
Sounds fun!
How did you find such old sparklers?

>>1442
>Lantern Festival
Now I learned another Chinese festival. And it seems to be coming soon!

>It looks that way, but I think the activity will spread to other areas over the next year.
I'm looking forward to seeing it! I'll try not to forget that until the next Halloween

>>1461
My parents have a drawer full of family photo albums, old calendars, and other random things. When I was over visiting them during the holidays I helped them re-organize it and we found the pack on the bottom of the pile. They let me have it after we tried it out, there is still two sticks left I will probably use next Christmas.

>>1463
Great!

>>1442
>it shows that dumplings are not about being healthy or unhealthy, it's about what you fill them with
f-filled with love?


>>1460
>have to revise my replies many times because they have a lot of unnatural wording that would fail to convey what I intended to mean
If it makes you feel any better, I do this as a native
>One of my New Year's resolutions should be to read novels and comics in English on Kindle
Only if you find the prospect interesting!

Personally, I prefer to live in a way that avoids "shoulds" because it implies a disconnect between internal and external motives.
For example, "I should eat healthy" has this underhanded meaning of "I enjoy eating unhealthy and should stop"
As long as you have a desire to eat unhealthy, then you'll be "forcing yourself" every step of the way, less likely to succeed.

The proper answer in my view is, "I _want_ to eat healthy!" and "I don't want to eat unhealthy because it makes me feel horrible!"

It all starts from the mind. Here's a song that samples a sermon which is amusing and talks about changing the mind

>hope you accomplish something this year

Thanks! I won't let ikouchan down!


LET'S STEP INTO THE FUTURE!
I'M GETTING A NEW MIND!
I WILL REJOICE!!

>>1463
Glad you spent time with your family!
>there is still two sticks left I will probably use next Christmas.
I hope the sparklers will work next Christmas!

Is it popular there to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Day with sparklers?

>>1468
>If it makes you feel any better, I do this as a native
Yeah one of the advantages of talking in a second language is that it may allow me to make excuses for my poor communication skills

Having said that, native speakers and ESL speakers would make different mistakes I think
For example, ESL speakers make mistakes by using phrases in a wrong way, such as saying "I feel bad" to express they are under the weather or saying "I know him" to mean "I've heard of his name"

What I wanna eradicate from my English is the mistakes only ESL speakers ( especially Japanese) could make

>Personally, I prefer to live in a way that avoids "shoulds" because it implies a disconnect between internal and external motive
I fully agree! I can keep learning languages because I know how to enjoy it and it makes me think I want to do it

But even to do something I WANT to do, I need to push myself when it requires energy and concentration. I think many things I do in my free time are not something I actually wanna do but something I do just because I can do them with little energy
My first "should" is to be more energetic and more motivated to learn new things. And I want to be so!

>>1519
I'm not sure. I know fireworks are popular at New Years' because I can hear them, but I don't meet enough people to know if sparklers are too.

Happy Chinese New Year! Or Lunar New Year.
People here argue about it.
Whatever it is called, I wish you a happy one!

>>1524
I see
Somehow fireworks and sparklers are summer activities in Japan

>>1541
Happy new lunar year!
I heard firecrackers play a big role in the celebration. I hope you stay safe

I want to create my own holiday/celebration that I can celebrate all by myself

>>1557
Cool!

>>1557
I don't think anyone would stop you from celebrating your own anniversary. Happy new March!

>>1557
You have one. It's your birthday.

Happy 520!
In Chinese, 520（wǔ èr líng） or 521 （wǔ èr yī）have similar tones to I love you(我爱你/wŏ aì nĭ), which has turned them into a kind of Virtual Valentine's Day.

>>1719
Happy 520!

I've never heard of that day!
I did a quick web search and It derives from a pop song?

It's Marine Day today in Japan. I'm supposed to thank the sea today. Thank you sea!

>>1804
ありがとう海さん

>>1807

The next coming week is called Obon in Japan
11th August is the only actual official holiday in the week but many people take a week off and some people have family gatherings

>>1846
>many people take a week off and some people have family gatherings
including you?

>>1846
Today is China's traditional Valentine's Day, the Qixi Festival, which is called Tanabata in Japan

>>1727
Yes, that was a song from a long time ago. And recently there is also a song about 520 has become a trend, and there is another similar tone in the lyrics, 1314 (yī sān yī sī) means a 一生一世/lifetime (yī shēng yī shī).
I went to bed at 5:20 and woke up at 13:14...

>>1848
1314 (yī sān yī sī)
isn't it sì instead of sī or is there some type of tone sandhi happening here?

>>1849
Off course!

>>1849
Ay! no! That was a typo.
They should be pronounced as Yī sān yī sì and Yì shēng yí shì.
We did has some tone sandhi, but in the idiom"一生一世".
When "一" is followed by a fourth-tone character, it is usually pronounced with the second tone (yí) .
And when "一" is followed by a first, second, or third tone character, it is often pronounced with the fourth tone (yì).
But in the 1314, we don't change the tones. Idk why.
A very interesting linguistic phenomenon.

>>1851
Thanks for the clarification as well as the song

>>1847
Unfortunately, this is a normal week for me

>>1848
I didn't know Qixi is Valentine's Day in China!
So there are three Valentine's Days in China? 14 Feb, 20 May and Qixi

>And recently there is also a song about 520 has become a trend
I've never heard of that song!
I did some research and is that song known for the Henan accent? I can't tell it by listening at all

>>1854
>So there are three Valentine's Days in China?
I think there are more than three Valentine's Days in China, I have observed more, such as 11th November, which is all about singles numbers, and even Christmas can be considered Valentine's Day in China.

>is that song known for the Henan accent?
Yes, but the accent isn't very pronounced.

Today is the Chinese Zhongyuan Festival (中元节). I did some research and found that it is also the Obon Festival in Japan. I'm curious about the time difference between Chinese and Japanese festivals. I knew that Japan changed the lunar calendar festivals to the Gregorian calendar, but why is the Obon Festival different?

>>1859
>why is the Obon Festival different?
To be honest I knew nothing about that
According to my research, the Meiji government tried to shift the Obon week from July in the lunar calendar to July in the Gregorian calendar.
But it didn't gain popularity and people stuck to the original season no matter what calendar was used.
In the end, 月遅れ盆, one month delay bon, is still popular in August, meaning July in the lunar calendar

Btw during this research, I learned Chinese people have two birthdays due to the lunar and Gregorian calendars

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?

>>1903
中秋節乾杯！

>>1903
I saw the beautiful moon too!

October 10 was Miyako's birthday

>>1940
A Libra, eh?
But then, it's hard to tell if Miyako is fair minded, or simply lax.

Happy new year! 🎊

Hi!

>>2043
You did nothing wrong!