Happy (Little) New Year – and some lessons from Japanese culture

Dear all

Unlike other countries where Christianity didn’t primarily influence, Japan has – since 1873 – celebrated New Year on 1st January. This was the year when Japan opened its borders to the rest of the world after more than 200 years of seclusion. They do, however, still celebrate Koshogatsu, otherwise known as Little New Year, which takes place on 15th January.

While on New Year’s Day, people may pray for personal fortune and happiness, the celebrations on 15th January focus on hopes for a bountiful harvest in the year to come. Central to these traditions is the deity Toshigami, and to encourage their ‘appearance’ and benevolence families build special altars and decorate their houses with lucky charms. A special rice dish known as ‘asukigayu’ is prepared with hollow bamboo cylinders inserted – when removed, tradition suggests that the amount of rice left inside them indicates whether the year’s harvest will be plentiful or not.

Despite the growth in popularity of anime and manga, Japan remains a country whose customs and traditions relatively few British people know much about. In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions and ideas for making ourselves healthier, happier, and better, this week I shared with our students a few Japanese techniques they might consider:

• Ikigai – discover your purpose in life (and choose something that aligns with your strengths, passions, and the needs of the world). You may know what you’d like to do in later life but whether you do or don’t, it’s worth spending time thinking about the kind of person you want to be and the things you want to do. Try creating your own Vision Board and put it somewhere you’ll see it every day.
• Shoshin – approach tasks with a beginner’s mindset and don’t worry about being perfect or having all the answers. When we are a true beginner, our mind is empty and open and we are willing to consider all pieces of information like a child discovering something for the first time. As we develop knowledge and expertise, however, our minds naturally become more closed and we tend to block the information that disagrees with what we learned previously and only be open to information that confirms our current approach. We think we are learning, but we are just waiting until we hear something that matches up with our current knowledge. Most people don’t want new information, they want validating information. When we are knowledgeable about a subject we need to pay more not less attention – when we are already familiar with 98 percent of the information on a topic, we need to listen carefully to pick up the remaining 2 percent.
• Wabi-sabi – find peace in imperfection. This concept encourages us to appreciate that nothing is truly perfect or permanent. From a new crack in a favorite plate or tear in the elbow of a beloved jacket to life’s much more monumental losses, wabi-sabi suggests a way to frame these challenges and allows us to find strength and beauty in the process of healing and repair.

Have a great weekend (hopefully one with purpose, a beginner’s mindset and a peace in imperfection!)

Best wishes

Michael Bond