It’s a busy, busy time of year, and the number of bonenkais (“Forget the Year” parties) I attend seems to grow exponentially the longer I am in Japan.
It’s also a hard time of year on the monthly budget too: the number of parties alone requires an extra 10,000-20,000 yen (at least) during December. Add to that Christmas cards, New Year’s
cards, Christmas presents, oseibo (presents given to business partners or other important relations at the end of the year), plus shipping for presents or tickets for your own year-end travel, and the end of the year can present some major damage to your bank account. So, I thought I’d share with you a few tips that have helped me through this year, and others, in terms of expenses.
First, the 100-yen shop can be a remarkable source of Christmas/New Year’s items. A trip to our local Daiso (the king of 100-yen shops) yielded some great finds: classy-looking ‘pop up’ Christmas cards with envelopes (usually 300 or 400 yen in stationery stores), nice-looking New Year’s decorations (the straw kind) for your door or home, which also make excellent gifts for overseas relatives, wrapping bags/tubes/filling (both seasonal and generic), and New Year’s mochi, of course. Daiso also had stamps, ink pads, pens, decorative stickers, and postcards for people who like to make their own New Year’s cards.
Finally, the 100-shop also supplied the magnetic hook I use to attach the wreath to our ‘mansion’ door, the tape I used to fasten my boxes, and the envelopes for my Christmas letter. With a little
imagination, you can create some amazing “value added” items out of your 100-shop finds.
For ‘oseibo’ and other year-end gifts, it’s hard to go too cheap. I usually purchase these items at a department store or specialty store with a generous point system, so I can at least use my points later. I also tend to send the same thing every year (in my case, Kobe Goeful crackers) — it makes budgeting easier, and people start looking forward to your present!
Finally: shipping and travel. Here again, the earlier you start, the better a deal you will find. Airline tickets from Japan to Europe and the US tend to get very expensive AFTER December 21st (when university students get off school). The best deals are usually found in mid- to late October, two months or more before the year-end season. Likewise, the best deal for shipping presents is sea mail — but for that, you need 4-6 weeks at least. Even then, I’ve had the sad experience of having a Christmas box arrive in February! Sources tell me that, in some cases, EMS (the super-fast service) is actually cheaper than sending by SAL (sea-air mail), depending on the weight of the package. So, ask your postman for details!
Well, I hope you all enjoy your holiday season preparations! With a little planning, they really don’t have to break the bank.
© 2004 Wendy J. Imura.