Things to do in December!
- Doing a big cleaning at home.
Japanese people have a custom of doing a general year-end cleaning of both the inside and outside of their homes to greet the New Year.
- Writing new year’s cards called “Nengajo” (年賀状, ねんがじょう).
It’s like your Christmas card. We believe “Oriental Zodia” called “eto” (えと, 干支) and use picture of the new year’s zodiac animal.
The next year’s zodiac animal is the “Rabbit” (ウ、ウサギ). Most of the postcards for 2011 will feature the Chinese zodiac sign of the Rabbit.
Japan Post’s postcards for Nengajo have lottery numbers called “Otoshidama kuji” (おとしだまたからくじ, お年玉宝くじ). This lottery winners can get gifts such as TV, video game, traveling, food etc. and therefore we can enjoy cards from friends and lottery numbers during the New Year’s holidays.
When you put new year’s cards in the post-box, please put them in the box written “年賀郵便 (nenga-yubin)” (red letters).
- Buying “the end of the year lottery” called “Nenmatsu Jumbo Takarakuji” (年末ジャンボ宝くじ).
It’s one of quite big lotteries in Japan.
You can see this kind of booth near banks (Mizuho bank) and stations.
In this year, 74 persons can win 200 million yen. 370 persons can win 100 million yen! 444 persons will be “billionaires”!
A lucky ticket holder can win up to 300 million yen if he holds the winning number and the ones before and after, therefore at the end of year, many Japanese think “If I won 300 million yen, I would ….”.
Each lottery ticket costs 300 yen. How many do you buy??
It is available for sale until 24th Dec. Dont miss it!