Chapter 35: CHAPPTER THIRTY-FIVE

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PART VI

OSHOGATSU

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

When I walked into the lobby-cum-office of our language school, "Dave, what the hell are you doing here? I told you I didn't have any classes for you to teach this Wednesday. And it's almost quitting time anyway."

I grinned, "I know. "But I just got my first bonus from my college. So let's go to our favorite watering hole and celebrate it. My treat!"

"Then why the hell are we hanging around here for? Let's go, man!"

Clanking our first extra large mugs of draft beer together and chanting the mandatory 'Kampai,' "So, Dave, did you get a full three months of your salary for your bonus?"

I shook my head. "Only just a bit less than two months."

"Why so little?

"That's just what I asked Fumie when I got it. She told me that since I had only been teaching at the college for two and half months, I was only getting sixty percent of the usual bonus. But she promised me that all my future bonuses would at be equal to three months of my salary at least. And sometimes more depending on how much tuition the college is raking in."

"Like I said before, Dave, I envy you. Being able teach at a college full time, you not only get to teach just about all of your time there on a completely fixed schedule for at least each semester, but also get quite a good, steady income to boot. I mean you get at least eighteen months pay for a twelve month year. Including, what, about four months of paid vacation?"

"More like five months . . . if I've got it right, that is."

"Whatever. It really sounds really fantastic to me."

"Ah, John . . . that's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"Spill it, man, . . . but I think I already know what it is."

"Well, now that I'm getting a steady income in Kyoto and getting used to and enjoying teaching forty young female students, not much older businessmen, using my adapted version of the direct method without the long commute down here, I'd like to have to teach down here in Osaka as little as possible. I mean, John, now not buying a monthly pass that would cost me much more for only one or two days a week, many times I have to pay more for the commute than I get from teaching for you. So, I actually lose money teaching here in Osaka. Oh, I'll still come down on days when you truly need me. But I think it would be better to think of me as a backup teacher to be used only in a true emergency."

John merely nodded. "I was thinking along the same lines myself, Dave. That's why once the big Oshogatsu New Year's holidays are over with, I'm going to put a Help Wanted ad in The Japan Times for a full time teacher."

"Hey, that's how you got me!"

"Right. And just between you and me, I'll pay you fifteen hundred yen per lesson to help you with your commuting expenses. But we've got keep this a secret or all the other teachers will be demanding fifteen hundred yen per lesson, too. And I'm not really authorized to pay any teachers that much. Deal?"

"You got it, man! And that should just about insure that you'll call me only when it's a real emergency."

"Ruriko, don't you find it strange to have to be teaching on Christmas?" We were eating our sandwich lunches at our usual table in the cafeteria. "I mean, in America it's our biggest holiday of the year. Don't you celebrate Christmas at all here in Japan?"

"Oh, we celebrate it, too. Haven't you seen all the Christmas trees?"

"Yeah, I have. But only in shop windows. Along with stuffed toy Santa Clauses and such. But there's so much more to Christmas than just Christmas trees and Santa Clauses."

"I know. And tonight we'll be eating our Christmas cake, too."

"Your what?"

"Our Christmas cake. You know, the cakes with white icing and with sayings like 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Holidays' written usually in red icing on the top."

"So that's what all those cakes in the bakery shop windows are for!"

"Yes. Don't you eat Christmas cake in America, too?"

"No, we don't. We usually eat roast turkey or ham on Christmas Day."

"Oh, that's a shame. I really love Christmas cake."

"And I love roast turkey and stuffings. But Ruriko, I understand that Oshogatsu is your big holiday here in Japan. What do you do on New Years day?"

"HolidayS. It lasts for at least four days altogether. And I made sure to mail all my nengajo by the deadline this year so they'll all be delivered on Ganjitsu New Year's morning."

"Nengajo?"

"New Year's post cards. Don't you send nengajo in America, too?"

"No, we send each other Christmas cards, not post cards."

"Well anyway, with our winter vacation starting tomorrow, I can take the train for Fukuchiyama before the real rush begins. My poor husband can't get off work until the twenty-ninth when the train will be jammed packed. He might have to stand the whole way."

"Fukuchiyama? I'm planning on going through it on my way to the Tottori Sand Dunes. When the weather gets warmer, that is, so I can putt there on my cub. But what's in Fukuchiyama?"

"Oh, that's where my husband's parents live. But their house is way out in the country with no bus service anywhere near them. So they promised to pick me up at Fukuchiyama Station.

"Well, what are you going to do there?"

"Oh, you know, on Omisoka we're going to eat toshikoshi soba while we're watching Kohaku Utagasen on TV like everybody else does on New Year's Eve."

"'Toshiko . . . whatever . . . soba?' Is that like ramen?"

She giggled. "Oh no. Ramen is made with Chinese style noddles. Soba is made with Japanese style noodles. But we're going to have to eat toshikoshi udon instead, because my mother-in-law is allergic to buckwheat. Udon is made with regular wheat, so she can eat it without worrying about poisoning herself to death."

"Hmm, sounds like a peanut allergy to me. Rare, but deadly if you've got it and you're not really careful. And you're going to watch Ko . . . Ko . . . God, I can't even pronounce the damn thing, let alone know what it is!"

"In English, I think it's called the 'Red and White Song Festival' . . . or 'Battle' maybe?'"

"Great, so maybe now I can pronounce it in English. But I still don't know what it is."

"It's a sort of like a singing contest on NHK with the White team being all the popular male singers and groups and the Red team being all the popular female singers and groups. It lasts until eleven forty five every New Year's Eve. Then we watch Yuku Toshi, Kuru Toshi until twelve fifteen."

"Oh God. And just what is Yuku Toshi, Kuru Toshi?"

"'Going Year, Coming year.' In ways I like it even more than Kohaku. It really makes me feel like the New Year has begun"

"OK. Now I know what the title is in English. But what is the hell is it about?"

"Oh, that's when they show events all over Japan welcoming in the New Years. Particularly the ringing of the bells in many different temples."

"Ok, I guess. But then do you go to bed?"

"Oh no! We go to a shrine near their house for hatsumode."

"And just what the hell is 'hatsumode?' . . . I think you called it."

"That's when we go to a nearby shrine to pray for happiness and other things in the new year. Like for me to get a good husband. Before I met and got married to my husband, that is."

"Hmm. I sometimes went to a church for a Christmas Eve midnight service and once to a Catholic mass. Not to pray. But to hear good Christmas music."

"Oh, you mean like 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' by Bing Crosby? We get that here in Japan, too!"

"NO!!! . . . oops, sorry . . . I mean real Christmas music. Like 'Joy to the World' or 'Oh Come All ye Faithful' or my favorite 'O Holy Night.' And if we have the time, we go to a performance of Handel's 'Messiah.'"

Ruriko looked puzzled. "I don't think I've heard of any of those. But the NHK Educational channel has a concert of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony starting at eight. But I like Kohaku better."

"That's my favorite symphony by Beethoven, all right. But we certainly don't play it as Christmas music! . . . But, umm, Ruriko . . . God, I'm getting afraid to even ask now! . . . What do you do on New Year's day?"

"Oh, we eat osechi, of course."

I sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have asked! . . . And just what the hell is osechi . . . I think you called it?"

"Oh, you know, sort of like a large obento lunch box filled with many cold dishes like kazunoko each with it's own meaning."

"Kazunoko?"

"Uh, herring roe in English, I think. Anyway, one kazunoko for instance, has something like twenty thousand eggs and is golden in color. So it means 'have many healthy children and grandchildren in the future.' My mother-in-law makes wonderful and very colorful osechi boxes and she knows what each of the pieces means. She's even teaching me how to make it. We eat it for the whole three days of Oshogatsu."

"Hmm, sounds something like what we do with our roast turkey. On Christmas Day, it's really great. But on the days following, my mother made us dinners using all the leftover parts of the turkey. One I hated was the last one when she made turkey soup using the neck only. Do you give each other presents on Oshogatsu, too? Like we did on Christmas Day before eating our turkey dinner?"

'Presents? Oh, do you mean otoshidama? I used to get them before I turned twenty and became a legal adult. Then I had to start giving otoshidama to my nephew and nieces. But the oldest is only in the first grade of elementary school so I don't have to give them very much."

"Oh God, here we go again! Otoshidama?"

"Oh, you know, money given to us by our parents and adult relatives in special small envelopes with otoshidama written on them along with cute cartoons, too. I always loved getting otoshidama on Oshogatsu. Is that what you mean by presents?"

"No! Anything but money! But it was the part that I loved the best about Christmas Day. When I was real little, I mean. That's what Santa Clause brings us down the chimney after we go to bed on Christmas Eve. As I became older I found out 'Santa Clause' was actually my Mom and Dad. And I had to start giving everyone gifts, too. But that was okay because I only had to give gifts that I could afford." Then I happened to glance at the clock on the wall. "Oh my God! It's almost time for our afternoon classes!" Standing up, "Well if don't see you until after winter vacation . . . Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

Also standing up, "You too, Dave. And I'll see you next year!"

Submitted: November 23, 2023

Romance romance japan gaijin travel-in-japan japan-1970s

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B Douglas Slack

This is a treasure trove of cultural information, Ken. Love it.

Bill

Wed, December 6th, 2023 5:33pm

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Glad you like it. In this and the following 1 or 2 chapters I'll be showing the many differences between the way Japan celebrates its Oshogatsu (In the 1970s at least) and America celebrates its Christmas. It can be quite a culture shock for both Americans coming to Japan and Japanese going to America.
Believe me!

Ken

Wed, December 6th, 2023 6:03pm