New Year Around Yado Nishimura — Welcoming the Year in a Quiet Japanese Village

In Japan, the New Year is a special time to welcome fresh beginnings.
Homes are carefully prepared, shrines are visited, and people quietly express gratitude to nature and their ancestors.
Around Yado Nishimura, this traditional New Year atmosphere still lives on as part of everyday village life.
This article will introduce you to the situation.

Located about 35 minutes by car from central Shizuoka City, this mountain village is usually 2–3°C cooler than the city. On winter mornings, frost gently covers rooftops, fields, and paths, turning the village softly white as the day begins.

The waterways that run throughout the village pass through the "kawabata" in front of each house. At the kawabata, water is used to wash vegetables and to sprinkle on the fields. It is a rule that nothing dirty except mud should be put into this water.

The surrounding landscape preserves many scenes of rural Japan. About a century ago, local youths and volunteers built irrigation channels and cultivated fields that are still used today. Tea fields, in particular, are scattered around the houses, changing shades of green with the seasons and becoming part of daily life.

Walking through the narrow lanes that connect the homes, you’ll find small stone statues of Jizo, quietly watched over with flowers. During the New Year, sacred ropes called shimenawa are added, marking the season with quiet respect. At the village shrine, banners are raised and shimenawa are hung, creating a modest but meaningful celebration of the new year.

Inside Yado Nishimura, you can experience how Japanese families traditionally spend winter. A kotatsu—a low table with a heated blanket—invites you to sit, relax, and warm yourself. This familiar scene often appears in Japanese anime and represents everyday life in Japan.
You’ll also find padded hanten jackets, offering a warmth and comfort rarely found in modern hotels.

Winter in the countryside offers a quiet beauty that cannot be experienced elsewhere.
We invite you to visit Yado Nishimura during this season and enjoy a different side of Japan.

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