The Chinese have a new-year’s calligraphy tradition, too, written on red paper and hung on your door. Of course, that’s done on the Lunar new year, not the Sol

The Chinese have a new-year’s calligraphy tradition, too, written on red paper and hung on your door. Of course, that’s done on the Lunar new year, not the Solar one. Your description of New Year’s as “like Western Christmas” is apt - I remember visiting one year, shocked by how quiet everything was, and how many restaurants and attractions were closed. Everyone was at home with their family! The January First festival at Senso-ji Temple was a unique spectacle, though - the sound of people donating hundreds of one-yen coins at once is really unique.