During December, in the west, people usually think of Christmas gifts when speaking of gifts. People in Japan, especially the youth and those with small children and grandchildren, think of Christmas gifts as well. However, some think of another kind of gifts called お歳暮/o-seibo. This is a Japanese tradition. In December, we give gifts to our bosses and friends etc in order to show our gratitude for their help during the year, although this tradition has recently become less popular. I'm even wondering if the tradition is fading out, but
special zones for the gifts called お歳暮/o-seibo still appear in supermarkets and department stores in November.
When I was a child, this kind of gifts were sent home mainly by my father's co-workers whom he was in charge of and by his clients. I looked forward to the gifts. When I started working many years ago, my company strongly advised that its employees should refrain from sending the gifts to their bosses and co-workers since the employees wondered if the gifts helped their bosses give them a good evaluation. Because of this, I never sent the gifts to my bosses nor received them from my co-workers in my company. However, my division still received them from other companies with which my division had close relationships in business. On top of that, I was personally given the gifts by other companies etc which were involved in my projects. Although I was required to report to my boss who gave me what, I was allowed to accept the gifts since all of them were within the bounds of common sense. As far as I remember, I received a dozen beers, a few pieces of handkerchief and things like that (Please see the Note below).
At the time, in December, some workers in department stores visited companies to give advice and help them send the gifts. As the times have changed, companies are required to be more transparency. Since some of the gifts were likely to be considered a sort of bribe, companies stopped sending and receiving gifts. Although I think that there are some companies which still keep the tradition, the current recession has encouraged more companies to turn from the tradition. On top of that, the tradition is disappearing from many younger people. Instead, Christmas gifts have become more familiar with them.
Note:
When I started working, I was a only woman in my project, although many people from various companies were involved in the project. They were not used to dealing with female co-workers. In December, some of them wanted to give me a gift as お歳暮/o-seibo. However, I guess they didn't know what kind of gift was best for me since they hadn't given the gifts called お歳暮/o-seibo to female co-workers before. After they thought through it, some gave me a big stuffed Snoopy because I told them at work that I liked Snoopy very much. Some gave me a pair of very high-quality pajamas. These surprised not only me but also my co-workers in my company. We all broke up.
I wish you a merry Christmas !!!
During December, in the west, people usually think of Christmas gifts when speaking of gifts. People in Japan, especially the youth and those with small children and grandchildren, think of Christmas gifts as well. However, some think of another kind of gifts called お歳暮/o-seibo. This is a Japanese tradition. In December, we give gifts to our bosses and friends etc in order to show our gratitude for their help during the year, although this tradition has recently become less popular. I'm even wondering if the tradition is fading out, but special zones for the gifts called お歳暮/o-seibo still appear in supermarkets and department stores in November.