It’s now 2012 January 1. 明けましておめでとうございます！ (“Happy New Year!”)
2012 is 「辰年」 (the “Year of the Dragon”) according to the Chinese zodiac which is popular in many Asian countries, including Japan.
If you want to know what year you were born in according to the Chinese zodiac, check on this chart.
The chart above translates the year “animals” into English…but they can be translated slightly differently too.
For example, ネズミ年 (Year of the Rat) can also be called “Year of the Mouse”.
I prefer to translate them as such:
+ 子年 : Year of the Mouse
+ 丑年 : Year of the Ox (or Cow)
+ 寅年 : Year of the Tiger
+ 兔年 : Year of the Rabbit
+ 辰年 : Year of the Dragon (this year)
+ 巳年 : Year of the Snake
+ 午年 : Year of the Horse
+ 未年 : Year of the Sheep (or Ram)
+ 申年 : Year of the Monkey
+ 酉年 : Year of the Rooster (or Chicken)
+ 戌年 : Year of the Dog
+ 亥年 : Year of the Wild Boar (or Pig)
Tokyo Five 
I’ve been reading your blog for a while, but this is the first time I’m leaving a comment. Happy Dragon Year! I look forward to the next year’s posts from you!
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Thank you. And, by all means, leave a comment more often!
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Happy New Year my Metal Buddy in Tokyo! \m/
I hope things are getting back to normal in those parts stricken by the 2011 disasters. Have a healthy, prosperous and Rockin’ 2012! 🙂
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Thanks.
Japan is slowly recovering from the giant earthquake in March.
Speaking of which…there was a pretty big earthquake again today (2012 Jan 1) in eastern Japan. It shook our house for about a full minute!
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Happy New Year, man. Have a good 2012!
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Thank you. You, too.
It’s the evening of January 1st (2012) in Japan now…we spent the earlier part of the day at my inlaws, as we normally do at New Years, and ate おせち (traditional Japanese New Years meal).
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Akemashite omedetoo gozaimasu to all of your family.
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Thank you. And 「明けましておめでとうございます」 (Happy New Year) to you, too!
Do you celebrate New Years “Japanese style” with おせち料理 (traditional Japanese New Years food), etc.?
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I forgot to mention…if you want to know more about New Years in Japan (Japan’s biggest holiday)…I wrote this post:
https://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/japanese-new-years/
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