Chinese New Year more reasons to celebrate

Don’t pack away your leftover fireworks yet. Chinese New Year is coming soon, giving everyone a new reason to celebrate. The Year of the Green Wood Monkey begins on Jan. 22, but events leading up to the big celebration starting from Jan. 10.

Shinto--Japan's national religion still a presence in Hawai'i

Japan has two religions: Shinto, its indigenous folk religion, polytheistic and with neither a founder nor firm religious principles; and Buddhism. The latter has a founder, of course, the Buddha, who was from India, and a complete set of doctrines based on a universal philosophy that transcends particular ethnic groups. This transcendent philosophy is the reason Buddhism crossed national borders into Southeast Asia, China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan, according to James M. Vardaman, Jr., professor of Asian history at Surugadai University in Japan, in his book, Talking about Buddhism.

Shinto integral to Japanese New Year's celebration

New Year’s Day is Japan’s most important holiday. At many family reunions gifts of money are exchanged, a traditional meal called osechi is eaten with a special sweet herb sake called toso, and families visit shrines and temples throughout Japan.