Japan History and Culture

Japanese Wet Hand Towel or Oshibori(おしぼり,お絞り)

An Oshibori are wet hot or cold hand  towels offered to customers in places  such as restaurants, tearoom, airlines or  bars in Japan. They are used to wipe your  hands or face before eating, this is a great  way to refresh yourself, especially if  you’ve been walking through the city,  and  have long been considered a  traditional custom in Japan.

Customers are always pleased when offered cold oshibori in summers and warm oshibori in winters. Oshibori Service has already been very popular all over Japan. This custom, unique to Japan, is also becoming popular among customers overseas. A great custom is welcomed anywhere.

The standard-size of the cloth is 12 inches by   8 inches (30cm by 20cm). They are now sometimes replaced with a paper towel.

The towels are given to you when you sit down in restaurants. When the oshibori is presented, unfold the towel, you have use finished with the towel, and then fold it or roll it up and replace the used towel in the basket that accompanied the towel.

Japanese Weddings gifts (Hikidemono, 引き出物)

In the wedding party, the couple welcomes all the guests, and the  reception party is  held. Usually the party is visited by about 20 to  200 guests among whom are relatives, friends, co-workers and  bosses of the bride and groom. The party normally starts, Nakoudo  (or matchmaker is the person that contract a marriage between the  man and woman who hope to marry) will introduce the bride and  groom.

Afterwards, Guests’ seats are usually arranged according to their  relationship with the married couple. Usually a full-course meal is  served at the table. After the reception, the guests receive favours  and gifts called Hikidemono, which is their “thank you for coming”  gift for the guests who have attended their wedding and banquet. By  tradition, hikidemono includes sugar or dried bonito flakes (katsuo  bushi), which symbolize happiness. Other items like cake, tableware,  interiors, and sake are also given as souvenirs. In addition, guests  also receive a gift of significant value usually half of the expected cash received by the guest.

In recent years, gift catalogs from which guests can choose gifts are popular as hikidemono. The average cost for a wedding party in Japan is around 2-3 million yen for 100-200 guests.

Japanese wind chimes (Furin, 風鈴)

In Japanese, wind chime or furin, is one idea for mental relief .Made of materials such as metal, ceramics or glass. It has been traditionally one of the typical things Japanese in summer, people set small bell are hung from the eaves of a house or in front of the windows to signal the presence of a cooling breeze. When swung in the breeze, it delivers a pleasant sound most of us Japanese love and enjoy very much and they can feel a little coolness.

These days, furin are not always welcomed because of the dense urban housing conditions in Japan, but the distinctive sound still symbolizes summer, and during the hot humid season signifies a breeze.

Wind chime has a long history. It seems to begin in China, but Chinese used wind chime by a different way. They used it for fortune-telling and expel, because they believe wind tells destiny. Also, the bell sounds secure people from evil. Later, wind chime comes to Japan with Buddhism. So there are wind chimes at temples in Japan and the areas around the temple which people can hear the bell ringing are secured.

Japanese Floating of Paper Lanterns (Toro nagashi)

Toro nagashi or “lantern offerings on the water, “Toro” means lantern, whilst “Nagashi” means to stream. Small paper lanterns containing light candles on a wooden or bamboo base are set adrift on calm water. Usually a message is written on the outside of the paper lantern. The purpose of this event is to send off ancestor’s spirits.

Paper lanterns are used often in the folk practices and holidays of the orient, especially in Japan. They can very in form from a simple square or bell shape to elaborate figural shapes representing animals, people or mythological creatures.

This is primarily done on the last evening of the Buddhist festival of Obon, which is celebrated throughout Asia, paper lanterns are placed by the graves of deceased relatives: a red one for a relative that passed away during previous years and a white one for the recently deceased, a way to supposedly guide the spirits of the departed back to the other world. Recently, travellers from foreign countries come from far and wide to see this spectacle; can feel the quiet and beautiful atmosphere.

The lantern festival the other evening was a three hour affair, with performances of Japanese drummers, Chinese dance, a gospel group, and a lone Scottish bagpiper who played while the lanterns were placed in the pond at sunset

Japan annual event
The full list of national holidays is as follows:

January 1 (national holiday)
New Year (shogatsu)

The second Monday in January
Coming 0f Age day or Adult’s Day (Seijin-no hi)

February 3
Beginning of spring (setsubun)

February 11 (national holiday)
National Foundation Day (kenkoku kinenbi)

February 14
Valentine’s Day

March 3
Doll’s Festival (hina matsuri)

March 14

White Day

March 20 or 21
Vernal Equinox (Shunbun-no hi)

April 29 (national holiday)
Showa Day (Showa no hi)

May 3 (national holiday)
Constitution Day (kenpo kinenbi)

May 4 (national holiday)
Greenery Day (midori no hi)

May 5 (national holiday)

Children’s Day (kodomo no hi)

July/August 7
Star Festival (tanabata)

The third Monday in July
Marine Day (Umi-no hi)

July/August 13-15
Obon

Third Monday of September (national holiday)
Respect for the Aged Day (keiro no hi)

Around September 23 (national holiday)
Autum Equinox Day (shubun no hi)

Second Monday of October (national holiday)
Health and Sports Day (taiiku no hi)

November 3 (national holiday)
Culture Day (bunka no hi)

November 15
Seven-Five-Three (shichigosan no hi)

November 23 (national holiday)
Labour Thanksgiving Day (kinro kansha no hi)

December 23 (national holiday)
Emperor’s Birthday (tenno no tanjobi)

December 24-25
Christmas

December 31
New Year’s Eve (omisoka)

If a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will also be a holiday. If a day lies between two national holidays, the day will also be turned into a holiday.