Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu

Today’s topic is “Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu” In hiragana characters, it’s “あけましておめでとうございます”

Japanese people use this phrase as a greeting on new year’s day, or we use it when we meet the person who we meet him/her for the first time in the year, especially in the beginning of January.

Also, we write this phrase on the new year’s cards.

The difference between “Happy New Year.” is that we only use the phrase in January, not in December.

If you want to say Happy New Year in December, we say “Yoi Otoshiwo” instead. In hiragana characters, “よいおとしを”

This means “Have a happy new year.”

EN: Thank you for your time today. Happy New Year.

JP: Kyou wa Ojikan Arigatougozaimasita. Yoi Otoshiwo.(きょうはおじかんありがとうございました。よいおとしを。)

EN: Happy New Year! What’s your ambition for the year?

JP: Akemashite Omedetou gozaimasu. Kotoshi no Houhu ha nandesuka?(あけましておめでとうございます。ことしのほうふはなんですか。)

Japanese people usually decide their own ambitions for the year at he begging of the year.

We call it “Houhu” as you can see in the example sentences.

Why don’t you have your own ambition for this year?

I hope you look forward to reading our next blog.