Bounenkai - a drinking party in Japan

It's the middle of December ! In this season, we generally have drinking party which is called "bounenkai"; "bou - to forget,""nen - year" and "kai - party" in Japanese. It means "to forget every hardship of the year and have a wonderful party." This is one of the popular parties which is held in each company; not too much to say that "an essential event of the company," if you belong to a company.

  The center of Tokyo, Shinjuku.

The party organizer is called "kanji." He or she(sometimes they)  should take over everything such as arranging a restaurant(or izakaya) booking, planning a game, etc. 

As I  mentioned above, we sometimes  have a game in the middle of the party(it also depends on the company). I think the most popular game is bingo, but some kanjies who want make the party special might plan a more fun game. 

The image of a "bounenkai" in the company.

You might think "bounenkai" is just a party. Yes, it is. It's not so special ! I assume that it's similar to the Christmas party in your country. But the only different thing is how to finish the party. 

At the end of the party, we always do the special behavior which is called "tejime." Technically, there are many kinds of tejimes: ipponjime, icchoujime, etc. I don't mean to describe the differences among them, and to be honest, I don't know clearly… Because the rules are complicated. I guess most of the Japanese people don't know how many tejimes in Japan. Simply put, "tejime" is "clap your hands in unison."

After the party, if you feel like drinking more, you can go to the second party, called "nijikai" with your co-workers. To the contrary, you want to go home as soon as possible, of course it's OK. It's up to you! FYI, "niji - the second," and maybe you can memorize this word today, "kai - party." Generally, bounenkai is kind of formal, but nijikai is not. Regarding nijikai, maybe you have many options to choose such as, karaoke, bowling, drinking at the other place etc.

Some Japanese people might think bounenkai is somewhat bothersome event, because most of the time, we have to join the party definitely. Besides it is important to sense the vibe. And I've forgotten to mention that ! You should pour bosses drinks very often during the party; it is called "oshaku." Besides you have to try to be nice to your bosses with politeness all the time. Because in Japan it is very important to express your respect to the people who are superior to you such as bosses and older people.

This word "bounenkai" itself is used in December, so we can use it with your friends. If you want to throw a party with your friends, you can say "bounenkai shiyou(Let's have a party)" to them. 

A bounenkai with friends.

Finally, I have to explain about "shinnenn kai": a new year party. It's the exactly the same party as bounenkai, though the meanings are different. The meaning of shinnen kai is "to start the new year freshly and have a party." Anyway, we have two important parties at the end of the year and the beginning of the year !

If you stay in Japan in this season, you can join the party; in your work, you are forced to(someone might look forward to) or with your friends, just for fun !

忘年会とは何かと考えてみると、実は「12月に行われるパーティー」であり、特に何か変わったことをするわけではありません。重要なのは「締め」があるということなのですが、「締め」の種類も多様で日本の文化はとても複雑です。そして忘年会の後は新年会とこの時期は大忙しです。日本人はもしかしたらどこの国の人よりも「節目」を祝うのが好きなのかもしれません。