WEDNESDAY’S WORD OF THE WEEK — BONENKAI

Did you all have a good GLN semester? The Fall 2013 GLN Japanese Foreigner Class just celebrated a memorable semester at the Sakana Restaurant. The teacher introduced a fun word for this end of semester celebration event: Bonenkai (忘年会). It literally means “forget the year gathering.”

Bonenkai (忘年会) is a Japanese drinking party that takes place at the end of the year and is generally held among groups of friends or colleagues. It is to forget the woes and troubles of the past year, and wishing for a better new year, usually by consumption of alcohol. The GLN Japanese Foreigner students had a great time drinking sake, eating sushi and udon, plus sharing their study plans and upcoming travel plans for 2014.