Chinese New Year In Japan

Since 1873 the official japanese new year has been celebrated according to the gregorian calendar on january 1 of each year new year s day.

Chinese new year in japan. Lunar new year is also known as the chinese new year in japan. Chinese new year events in japan. Chinese living in tokyo celebrate the new year by decorating their houses and streets with red and golden decorations.

Festivities include lion and dragon dances musical performances acrobatics a parade featuring. Kobe is home to one of only a few china towns in japan. In contrast the traditional lunar new year is a public holiday named spring festival 春节.

There will also be stalls selling chinese food and more traditional chinese goods. These decorations also depict the animal of year which means this year decorations will be based on goats. However some traditional events of the japanese new year are partially celebrated on the first day of the year on the modern tenpō calendar the last official lunisolar calendar which was used until 1872 in japan.

The first day of january became the official new year s day since five years after the meiji restoration. Officially china does in fact celebrate new year s day 元旦 on the western gregorian 1 january. This year it is on february 16.

The festivities in the district of nankin machi include a dragon parade a lion dance and martial arts demonstrations. Yokohama chukagai chinatown is one of the best places to enjoy chinese new year celebrations in japan. The traditional winter holiday for the japanese is oshogatsu literally first month or new year.

Unlike chinese korean or vietnamese new year japanese celebrate their new year on january 1. Chinese new year is the most important of the traditional chinese holidays and what better place to spend it in japan than yokohama chinatown. In most of the asian countries lunar new year is celebrated with gusto but you won t find much about the lunar new year in japan.