new year celebrations

Experiencing Oshougatsu

By: Jin Song, Peak Associate Oshougatsu, which is Japanese for New Year, is celebrated at the start of January. It is also known as shougatsu. Typical traditions include house cleaning to symbolize new beginnings, viewing the first sunrise, and the consumption of special dishes like herring roe, pickled lotus root, and candied chestnut. On the fourth day of 2025, I attended Oshōgatsu: Japanese New Year Celebrations at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre with my brother. It was a somewhat dreary morning with light rain, and I was grateful that the majority of this event took place indoors. At…

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