The Japanese celebrate the New Year on New Year's Day.
In addition to the different time of the Chinese New Year and the Chinese Spring Festival, many customs and habits are also different.
For example, the Chinese custom of eating dumplings and glutinous rice balls during Chinese New Year does not exist in Japan.
The food that Japanese people must eat on New Year's Eve is "New Year's Eve soba noodles."
There are two points in the picture. First, the buckwheat noodles are thin and long, symbolizing longevity.
Second, soba noodles are not elastic and are easy to cut.
It also symbolizes a clean break with the misfortunes and unpleasantness encountered in the past year.
Therefore, "New Year's Eve Soba" is also a bowl of "Broken Heart Noodles" for many lovelorn people.
Chinese New Year is also for "forgetting the New Year".
Another example is that on New Year's Eve, a must-see TV program for Japanese people is NHK TV's Red and White Song Contest.
Different from the Spring Festival Gala which just emerged in China a few years ago, the Red and White Song Festival has been held every year since 1951 and has a long history.
And there are no cross talk, sketches, operas, juggling, or dance performances. It is just a pure singing competition between the red group and the white group.
In addition, the Red and White Song Festival is broadcast live every year at NHK's concert hall. The 3,000 viewers watching the show are not officials or celebrities, they are just ordinary viewers.
They were finally selected to participate in the Red and White Song Festival through their own registration and lottery.
Also, when the New Year comes, our Chinese people like to set off firecrackers and fireworks, but the Japanese do not have this habit.
Japanese people go to temples to hear the bells ringing to welcome the New Year, or to visit shrines and shrines.
Respecting heaven first is deeply ingrained in Japanese New Year culture.
Even today, this tradition is still preserved in major cities in Japan.
And because since ancient times, the Japanese have divided life into "formal" and "daily" occasions.
Traditional festivals and rites of passage throughout the year are considered "formal" occasions, while ordinary life outside of them is considered "everyday" occasions.
During the New Year, the official holiday period from January 1st to January 3rd is considered a "formal occasion".
So no matter adults and children are mostly dressed up, women also wear kimonos.
Even when officially going to work on January 4, there are still young women wearing kimonos.
These are very different from our Chinese customs of celebrating the Spring Festival.
Of course, having said that, since China and Japan are separated by a narrow strip of water, Japanese culture is deeply influenced by Chinese civilization.
In the culture of celebrating the New Year, many traditional Chinese elements are inevitably followed.
First of all, Japanese people also eat rice cakes and prepare sumptuous New Year dishes.
Just like our New Year's Eve, we prepare a sumptuous and festive New Year's Eve dinner to celebrate the Spring Festival.
The rice cakes symbolize "prosperity every year", the fish and vegetables mean "more than enough every year", the meat with pickles and vegetables means "completeness", the pig's ears mean "smoothness and success", and the pig's tongue means "luck and treasure".
The Japanese will also prepare "Osechi cuisine" of the same nature to celebrate the New Year and bring good luck.
Japanese "Osechi Ryori" is said to have originated from China and is a dish prepared to welcome the "New Year".
It not only brings together a variety of delicacies from mountains and seas, but also has bright colors and balanced nutrition.
And the Japanese believe that the Nian God will bring New Year blessings to everyone.
For example, Japanese rice cake represents perseverance and hope, black beans mean "hard work", chestnut and sweet potato puree means "good fortune", "date roll" means "academic success", etc.
Secondly, even the Japanese want to give money to their children.
The Japanese call money used to suppress evil spirits "お年玉", which is the same as our Chinese intention of using money to suppress evil spirits and drive away evil spirits to help children celebrate the New Year safely.
The Japanese people's money is also regarded as a gift given by the "God of the Year" to their children.
Because it is contaminated with spirit, it can make the child healthy, auspicious, and safe in the new year.
In addition, regardless of whether they are a wealthy family or a poor family, Japanese families have almost the same standards for giving their children money.
It’s about 5,000 yen for high school students and 3,000 yen for junior high school students and below.
Moreover, after Japanese children receive "Nian Jade", their parents will confiscate it in various names.
As for the last point of similarity, every New Year is a day when parents urge their children of marriageable age to "when will they get married?" This point also has the same origin in China and Japan.
Therefore, for Matsumoto Keiko, the New Year has gradually become an important "junction" that makes her very entangled.
At this time of the year, her "fear of marriage" is particularly prominent, which is in sharp contrast to her parents' impatient urge to get married.
Even at this time of year, even her mother sided with her father and reached a unanimous alliance, which gave her even more headaches.
Although on December 31st she was able to evade her parents' criticism by performing on a TV station, there was nothing she could do to evade her on January 1st.
I had to face my mother’s warnings like this.
"You will be thirty-four this year. If you are not married yet, you may not have children until you are forty. As you get older, everything will only be more difficult. And the longer you delay, the greater the risks you may face..."
Or it could be similar accountability from a father.
"Look at the neighbor's so-and-so, their little daughter is in kindergarten. She is about the same age as you. I really don't understand, ordinary girls like that are married. Why haven't you met the right partner yet?
Don’t set your sights too high, the most important thing for a man is his character..."
To be honest, facing my father’s unhappy lesson, and my mother’s insinuating and sighing, no matter how good the Chinese New Year mood is, it will become gloomy, and I really can’t afford to be hurt.
In the past few years, Matsumoto Keiko could only pretend to be deaf or dumb, or work hard to get through this.
Her principle is that you can control me or urge me, but whether I listen to you or not is up to me.
But the problem is that as we get older, our parents become more and more nagging and take this matter more and more seriously.
This made her pain worse and worse.
In recent years, she has almost been worried about going home for the New Year, but it would be impossible not to go back.
After all, father and daughter seldom interact with each other, so the only time the whole family of three can sit together and get together is only during the New Year every year.
Matsumoto Keiko didn't want to bear the charge of being unfilial, and she couldn't bear to make her parents sad, so she had no choice but to humiliate herself, keep smiling in the suffering, and accept the mental punishment.
This year, however, the situation has changed.
Because of the presence of Ning Weimin in her life, Matsumoto Keiko seemed to feel that her parents' words were not so heartbreaking.
She even listened to some of the words, and even vaguely felt that they made some sense.
As a result, her smile towards her parents became much more sincere, and her attitude was not as perfunctory as before.
But because of this, she missed Ning Weimin even more.
Starting from the morning, I always go to the entrance to make phone calls when no one is paying attention, hoping to get a reply from Ning Weimin.
And her anxiety shifted from bearing the pressure of her parents to get married to the lack of response from Ning Weimin.
As a result, around five o'clock in the afternoon, I finally received a call back from Ning Weimin as expected, but what I didn't expect was that Ning Weimin was still sick.
She didn't do what he thought at all. She completely succumbed to her emotions. She immediately became worried and couldn't wait to visit him right away.
Because it was Chinese New Year, she was wearing a gorgeous kimono today, so she didn't come by car and immediately called a taxi service.
After that, I went to say goodbye to my parents.
The excuse she made was that a foreign actor friend came to Tokyo.
For the sake of career, you have to go out to socialize and meet up with your friends.
Then she didn't even have dinner at home, she just went to the kitchen to take some food in a food box and set off.
Only the dumbfounded parents were left at home, looking at each other and muttering for a while.
"Really, why did you leave without eating dinner? This child didn't even stay at home for one day..."
"It's not because you spoiled her rotten. She has done whatever she wants since she was a child. She has more ideas than men and has never listened to me..."
"How can you blame me? Don't you know who your daughter's stubborn temper is like?"
"According to what you say, I should be blamed?"
"Isn't this a matter of course? You, a man, can nag more than I, a woman, and my daughter was clearly offended by your words today, so she left. Think about it, don't foreigners celebrate the New Year? 1
July 1st is an international holiday, right? Who would disturb others on such a day? It’s obviously an excuse.”
"Humph, how can such a thing be blamed on me? Besides, who am I doing it for? It's not because you sigh all day long that I just said a few more words. Speaking of which, the daughter's marriage is clearly the mother's fault.
It's a responsible thing. I want to ask you, what have you done for your daughter?"
"Have I not done enough? I have been looking for a blind date for my daughter recently. It's only my fault that your trading company doesn't have an outstanding subordinate..."
"What? What are you talking about! There are more than a hundred people in my trading company. Young people who are not married are at least sixty or seventy, right? Have you read the information?"
"What's the use of having more people? I just want a son-in-law who's not ugly, not short, not too low-educated, and not too capable, but there's not even one. Either it's not good here, or it's not enough, even I can't
If you don’t like her, how can you tell Qingzi?”
"Oh, you, you, how can you be so picky? I'm afraid there are no men in the world who are qualified."
"Nonsense, I saw that the Congressman named Maeda in the news was pretty good. And the prosecutor who handled the live broadcast murder case in Osaka last summer seemed to be okay..."
"Aren't you ashamed to say this? I think my daughter is always living in unrealistic dreams because of your influence..."
"Oh, are we Keiko bad? She is the most beautiful female star in Japan. Isn't it the right thing to marry well?"
"She is a thirty-four-year-old woman!"
"What's wrong? Even a twenty-year-old girl is not as beautiful as her."
"What's the use of being beautiful? Women have to give birth to children. No matter what, you can't compare with young girls in this aspect..."
"Ah! How can you say that about your daughter? Are you cursing your daughter to not have children? No wonder your daughter has no feelings for you, you are too cruel."
"What are you talking about! I'm just telling the truth, not to mention not in front of her..."
"That's not okay. This is not what a father should say. Bah, bah, bah..."
I had no idea what was going on at home, or that my parents were talking about me.
After Matsumoto Keiko got into the back seat of the taxi, she anxiously handed the note to the driver and put the food box on her lap.
I want to rush to the location where her address is recorded.
The address Ning Weimin told her was not Ginza, and it was different from what Ning Weimin had said in her memory.
But she doesn't care.
She didn't even want to think carefully about whether Ning Weimin had lied to her. She was just worried about his health and wanted to get over it as soon as possible.
So much so that the driver recognized her and frequently looked at her from the rearview mirror along the way, always trying to find an excuse to talk to her.
She also turned a blind eye and remained indifferent.
It has to be said that the traffic on the streets on the first day of the New Year was obviously much less than usual.
Along the way, perhaps because the driver was distracted, the taxi ran through several red lights, and it only took twenty minutes to reach Akasaka.
When the taxi turned past Akasaka Subway Station, followed the wide street and turned into a small alley, the apartment was already in sight.
And it's even quieter here.
A few minutes later, in the afterglow of the setting sun, the car came to a complete stop.
The driver said softly from the driver's seat, "This is the apartment, you have arrived."
Keiko Matsumoto looked out the window and could tell it was a high-end apartment.
At this time, she was a little surprised. She didn't expect Ning Weimin to live in such a high-end place.
So I couldn't help but ask the driver again.
"Is that correct? This is it?"
"You can't be wrong. I'm familiar with this place and come here often." The driver said firmly.
"Okay, how much will it cost?" Matsumoto Keiko no longer had any doubts.
"Five thousand five hundred yen." The driver tried his best to show the meter to Matsumoto Keiko.
Keiko Matsumoto didn't even look at the meter and paid the fare in a hurry.
But just as he was about to open the door and leave, the driver begged again.
"Matsumoto...are you Miss Matsumoto? Can you sign your name for me? Since today is the New Year..."
Only then did Matsumoto Keiko realize that the driver was a fan of her movie.
Looking at his shy expression, Matsumoto Keiko even understood that it was difficult for this driver to muster up courage.
After thinking about it, I couldn't refuse, so I signed it with pen and paper.
As a good person, she even asked for the driver's name and patiently wrote "Thank you for the service" and "Congratulations on the New Year."
For this reason, the driver was overjoyed. Then he collected the signature and ran down to open the door for Keiko Matsumoto like a private driver.
Then he bowed several times and said "Happy New Year" and watched Keiko Matsumoto walk into the apartment building.
He then got back into the car and drove away quickly.
For him, this should be a surprising gift for the New Year.
Also because this is a rather special day, the apartment building does not have the doorman who usually guards the door, and even the voice access control is not turned on.
This allowed Matsumoto Keiko to open the door and walk in very smoothly.
From the lobby to the elevator, and from the elevator to the corridor, she never saw anyone.
The only sound of her own walking could be heard everywhere.
It stands to reason that it is a bit scary.
But perhaps because she had just fulfilled a movie fan's wish, she was also relatively happy and did not have such bad feelings at all.
In this way, she walked all the way to Ning Weimin's door. After confirming the room number, she gently rang the doorbell.
No one answered.
Knocked a few more times, but still no one answered.
Finally, as a last resort, Matsumoto Keiko pounded the door harder, and then she finally heard movement inside.