December 2, 2009
Celebrating the Holidays in Tokyo and Amsterdam
The holiday season is a time to share with family, friends and community with an abundance of food and celebratory traditions. If you’re traveling to Amsterdam or Tokyo this holiday season, act like a local and join in on the festivities.
Light up the Holiday in Tokyo
As you walk along the streets of Tokyo, it won’t take long to jump start your holiday cheer. Tour through Tokyo’s commercial district of Shinjuku and browse the beautifully decorated storefront windows for this year’s holiday presents. Once you’ve worked up an appetite from your holiday shopping ventures, stop by a local pastry shop for a traditional Japanese treat like the green tea mochi rice cakes below.
Japanese rice cakes: green tea mochi
With tasty sweet in hand, wind down with a stroll through Shinjuku Terrace City’s Illumination display. Each year the neighborhood is lit up with festive lights, decorated trees and holiday music–the perfect concoction to warm your holiday spirit.
Shinjuku spruced up for the holidays
Hatsumode
New Year’s is the most important holiday in Japan. The first of this three day celebration is called Hatsumode, and is a time for renewal. Visitors fill Buddhist temples across the country as they reflect on the previous year, offer wishes and prayers of good fortune (omikuji), and wait for the stroke of midnight when the temple’s bell chimes 108 times–once for each of man’s sins. According to Buddhist tradition, those who hear all 108 chimes will be cleansed of the previous year’s misdeeds.
Omikuji fortunes placed outside of a Shinto shrine
Christmas in Amsterdam
The lights, the festivals, the ice skating! Amsterdam chocks the holiday full of celebrations that are sure to remain fresh in your mind for years to come. Connect with your inner child and enjoy ice skating in Leidseplein, on Amsterdam’s frozen canals, or in front of the iconic Rijksmuseum. With all that activity, make sure to nourish yourself with a Dutch treat, like Poffertjes carts set along side the Leidseplein ice rink.
Skating Amsterdam's canals
Dutch pancake, Poffertjes
Oud en Nieuw
Out with the old and in with the new is the Dutch motto at New Year’s. Second only to Queen’s Day, New Year’s celebrations are spread throughout Amsterdam from elegant indoor parties to fireworks in the cities’ many squares. If glitz and glam is what you seek, go retro with Boom Chicago’s at 60′s-themed New Year’s Eve event. For the outdoor enthusiast, soak in the visual splendor with an evening of fireworks at Amsterdam’s Nieuwmarkt.
Celebrating New Year's with fireworks in Amsterdam
Photo Credits: Tokyo Tower at Christmas, SpecMode; Green Tea Mochi, Koonisutra; Illumination at Shinjuku, taiyofj; Amsterdam ice skating, Jaasi; Hatsumode fortunes, Kalandrakas; Poffertjes, A Little Tune; Amsterdam fireworks, Thijs Knaap
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