Tweet of The Week #162: New Year and Going Back to Work

So long, 2021, hello, 2022! This week, we welcomed the new year, and most of Japan headed back to work. Last year was wild and, sadly, ended with a really short holiday off work.

The few national holidays people get for year-end celebrations fell on a weekend, leaving only December 31 through January 3. Thus, January 4 marked the first workday of the year (仕事始（しごとはじ）め).

Here are a few selected tweets to take a peek at the atmosphere during Japan’s this first week of the new year!

Five more minutes

明日仕事始めの方に向けて pic.twitter.com/A6GgJp6RCu

— さきゅう/ Sakyu@Commissionclose (@shamo0301) January 3, 2022

明日（あした）仕事始めの方（ほう）に向（む）けて

For those who start work tomorrow.”

“危（あぶ）ない！！あと5分（ふん）が一生（いっしょう）つづく”

Danger! Five more minutes will last a lifetime.!

Mascots work too!

おはくま～！仕事始めいってくまーす！ pic.twitter.com/R3lujngjdh

— くまモン【公式】 (@55_kumamon) January 3, 2022

おはくま～！仕事始めいってくまーす！

“O-hakuma! Let’s get to work!”

Gloating Woody

仕事始めで憂鬱になってる人のツイートを見て喜ぶ者 pic.twitter.com/TTA6tzLsr6

— えだま (@kissshot51) January 3, 2022

年末（ねんまつ）年始（ねんし）も関係（かんけい）なく働（はたら）いた者（もの）達（たち）だ。

面構（つらがま）えが違（ちが）う。

“These are the people who worked through the New Year’s holidays.

They have different attitudes.”

仕事始めで憂鬱（ゆううつ）になってる人（ひと）のツイートを見（み）て喜（よろこ）ぶ者（もの）

“Those who rejoice when they see tweets from people who are depressed about the start of work.”

‘Happy New Year’ in Japanese

Photo: iStock: gahsoon

These phrases are for specifically after the New Year holiday. Some Japanese articles on business manners even consider January 7 the end of the greeting period. But it’s hard to catch up with everyone within a few days! Regardless, here’s how you wish your boss and colleagues a happy start as soon as you’re back in the office.

• 新年（しんねん）明（あ）けましておめでとうございます。(Polite)
• 明けましておめでとう。(Casual)
• あけおめ。(Very casual. Only use with people you know very well!)

Extra polite

Want to be extra polite? Add your thanks for their help and support in the previous year, and anticipate the year to come with gratitude.

• 昨年（さくねん）は大変（たいへん）お世話（せわ）になりました: Thank you very much for your help last year.
• 本年（ほんねん）もよろしくお願（ねが）い致（いた）します: I look forward to working with you this year.

Using email

Finally, when it comes to greeting the new year via email, there are a couple of words written slightly differently for politeness.

• 今年（ことし） becomes 本年（ほんねん） (this year)
• 去年（きょねん） becomes 旧年（きゅうねん） or 昨年（さくねん） (last year)

Vocabulary

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