New Year. New Everything.

When's your big annual cleaning?
Or does your mom go all out every Saturday, wake you up at 8AM with loud Spanish music and make you clean every corner of the house? ( anyone else feel my pain? )

I was talking to my good friend Kaori (@reggaekaori ) the other day and she mentioned that she was doing her end-of-year cleaning. Unlike New Year's in the states where often people go out to parties with their friends to drink and dance the night away, In Japan, the New Year is more a time to be with family, to start fresh (clean slate), welcoming all the good and throwing out all the bad in your life.

So you think, "Alright, that makes sense. You clean your house, you start fresh," but it doesn't stop there. She said that Japanese people will buy new underwear, a new toothbrush, and so on.
So what do you think of this kind of tradition? Does the New Year hold a great deal of importance to you?
As someone who finds pleasure in being the first to set foot in a big patch of snow, I understand what's thrilling about "new".

I did mention to my friend Kaori that in America we have something similar to end-of-year cleaning which we refer to as "Spring Cleaning"; however, when she asked me why, I had no idea what to say!
So does anyone know why do we have "Spring Cleaning"? Does it have to do with the rebirth of mother nature? Is that the western "new start"? I'd like to know what you think.

Stay Tuned for a mini update on Wednesday! :)