Workplace Seasonal Events: Bonenkai, Shinnenkai, Kangeikai, Sobetsukai

Bonenkai Japan gatherings anchor a four-event workplace calendar that every salaried foreign worker will be invited into. The year-end forget-the-year party in December, the new-year party in January, the April welcome party for new colleagues, and the farewell party when someone leaves all run on the same underlying format.¹²

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at Tokyo Shoko Research and the Hot Pepper gourmet dining research institute (Recruit), the primary sources behind this article's survey data.

Overview

The seasonal workplace calendar consists of four named events: the year-end party, the new-year party, the welcome party, and the farewell party.¹² Each name ends in 会 (kai, "meeting or gathering"), so any kai-suffixed term you hear at work is some form of organized event.²³

The umbrella term is 飲み会 (nomikai, "drinking gathering"): after-hours social events at izakaya pubs, restaurants, or karaoke venues where colleagues eat, drink, and bond.¹ The stated purpose has its own word, 飲みニケーション (nominication, portmanteau of nomi plus communication): building closer relationships through drinking and conversation, including thoughts people hesitate to voice in formal meetings.⁴

This article covers all four events as one calendar. It applies the same way nationwide regardless of nationality or visa status; what varies is the employer, since large domestic firms, startups, and foreign-capital firms differ in frequency, funding, and attendance pressure.⁴

The Four Events at a Glance

Bonenkai: the year-end forget-the-year party

The 忘年会 (bonenkai, "forget-the-year gathering") is held in December, on no fixed day, with the heaviest booking pressure from mid-December.⁵⁶ Its purpose is to forget the woes and troubles of the past year and close it out as a group. It is distinct from the shogatsu New Year celebration that runs to January 3.⁵

Bonenkai are observed by coworker groups, friend groups, or as company-sponsored events for employees, with department-level parties the common company form.⁵⁶ The custom traces back to 納会 (nokai, "great achievement gathering") thanksgiving gatherings in the Muromachi period of the 15th century, took the bonenkai name by the 18th century, and became a fixture of postwar company calendars under lifetime employment.⁵

Shinnenkai: the new-year party

The 新年会 (shinnenkai, "new-year gathering") is held in January after the holiday break, generally in mid-January.²⁶ Its tone looks forward: managers' greetings shift to "let's do our best this year," and coworkers exchange news of the holidays.⁶

It aims to motivate and align the team and shake off post-break lethargy.² Unlike bonenkai, it is not framed as settling the past year's problems but as a fresh start into a successful new year.⁶

Kangeikai: the welcome party

The 歓迎会 (kangeikai, "welcome gathering") is held when someone joins, whether a new employee, student, or group member.¹² At large companies it typically lands at the start of the new financial year in April alongside the new-graduate intake, and it can run as big as a bonenkai.²

Declining your own kangeikai is seen as quite rude, so treat the invitation as near-mandatory.¹ Newcomers should expect to follow seating and serving protocols, sitting at the lower end of the table and refilling seniors' drinks, which makes the event socially demanding despite its welcoming purpose.²

Sobetsukai: the farewell party

The 送別会 (sobetsukai, "farewell gathering") is held when someone leaves through retirement, transfer, graduation, or resignation.² A related term, 壮行会 (sokokai, "send-off gathering"), covers forward-looking celebrations for intra-company promotion, transfer, or overseas posting.²

Typical Structure: Venue, Cost, and Flow

Venue and format

Typical venues are izakaya pubs (where the majority of bonenkai are held), restaurants, hotels, or the company premises as a cost-saving variant.⁵²⁶ Food arrives as a set course, and drinks run on an all-you-can-drink plan, usually 90 to 120 minutes.⁶⁷

The main party typically lasts two to three hours.⁶ Karaoke or other entertainment, such as songs, comedy bits, or magic tricks, often fills the later phase or the afterparty, though noisy amateur acts that bother other guests are increasingly frowned upon.⁶

The 二次会 (nijikai, "second party") continues at a bar, izakaya, pub, or karaoke venue with a smaller subset of the group. A further continuation is the 三次会 (sanjikai, "third party").¹² Attendance at the nijikai is optional, and declining it carries no cost.¹

Cost: who pays

Some companies pay the entire cost of the party. Others set a per-person target so the price does not discourage attendance.⁵ When the company does not pay, the bill is typically split evenly as a set course fee regardless of individual consumption.⁷

Item	Amount	As of	Notes
Bonenkai average per person, course plus all-you-can-drink (Gurunavi research)	JPY 4,000–5,000	2019-01-11 page, updated 2020-07-146	Course dinner with fixed-time drinks plan
Company per-person target, no more than this	JPY 5,000	archived practitioner guidance5	Set to avoid discouraging attendance
Standard organizer collection band	JPY 3,000–5,000	2026-03-04, updated 2026-09-081	Collected by the organizer at the end
Set course band	JPY 2,500–5,000	2025-12-257	Varies by venue and group budget
Standard band including upscale venues	JPY 3,000–6,000	2025-12-257	Higher end for company-sponsored events

Reported bands overlap without matching exactly, because each source samples a different venue mix and year (as of 2019–2026; confirm current figures with the venue or organizer). The honest summary is a few thousand yen per head with company subsidy common, not one settled number.

Bring cash even when the company subsidizes

The organizer collects payment on the night, and many izakaya still settle group bills in cash. Bring enough to cover the stated course fee plus the afterparty in case you join it.¹⁶

The evening flow

The evening opens with a greeting from a manager or the organizer, then the 乾杯 (kanpai, "cheers") toast. Nobody drinks before it.¹⁶⁷ After the toast, food and conversation begin, and moving between tables to talk is expected rather than rude.¹⁶

Pouring follows a custom called oshaku: hold the bottle or pitcher with both hands with the label facing the recipient. The receiver holds the glass with both hands, and juniors typically keep seniors' glasses filled.⁴⁶ When clinking glasses with a superior, hold your glass slightly lower as a sign of respect.¹

Seating carries hierarchy too. The seat furthest from the entrance is the seat of honor, reserved for senior members or guests, while juniors or hosts sit nearest the entrance.⁸ If someone directs you to a seat, follow their guidance.⁸ The evening closes with a closing message from an appointed participant, and leaving before the closing remarks is impolite.⁸¹

If you must leave early, tell the organizer or your supervisor in advance and excuse yourself with お先に失礼します (osaki ni shitsurei shimasu, "excuse me for leaving first").⁸¹ A brief thank-you to the organizer or senior attendees the next day is noticed positively.¹

The Post-2020 Reality

Company year-end and New Year parties are less mandatory and less universal than the historical norm. Company implementation fell from 78.4% before COVID to 5.6% in 2020, recovered past 50% by 2023, then stalled at 59.6% in 2024 (as of the 2024 Tokyo Shoko Research survey; confirm current figures with Tokyo Shoko Research).⁴ The October 2025 expectation survey put implementation at 57.8% across 6,225 firms (as of 2025-11-01).⁹

Firms that continue cite employee fellowship at 86.7% as the top reason (as of 2025-11-01).⁹ Firms that stopped cite low demand at 67.3%, employee resistance at 41.3%, and cost cutting at 21.7%, the first time cost cutting passed 20% (as of 2025-11-01).⁹

Employee willingness tells a split story. In the Hot Pepper survey of 1,035 people in their 20s to 60s, 12.2% want to attend a company year-end party and 24.7% somewhat want to, for 36.9% combined (as of October to November 2025 fielding; confirm current figures with the Hot Pepper gourmet dining research institute).¹⁰ Willingness skews young: 43.0% of people in their 30s and 41.8% in their 20s want or somewhat want to attend, while nearly 70% of people in their 50s and 60s answer do-not-want or somewhat-do-not-want (as of October to November 2025 fielding).¹⁰

A parallel worker survey found 68.8% of employees in their 20s want to attend a year-end party, against 51.9% in their 40s and 40.3% in their 50s (as of the 2024 Job Soken survey of 440 workers; confirm current figures with Job Soken).⁴ An earlier survey found 46% of workers in their 20s and 44% in their 30s like work drinking parties, against 37.6% and 27.6% for workers in their 40s and 50s (as of the 2023 Daikokuya survey).⁴

The format is shifting too. The most preferred timing is a 6 to 7 p.m. start ending around 9 p.m. at 61.5%, while a noon-to-1 p.m. lunch format at 11.5% now outranks an evening-into-late-night format at 7.9% (as of October to November 2025 fielding).¹⁰ Daytime formats are framed as less intrusive on employees' time and lower in harassment risk.¹⁰

The Hot Pepper institute director's summary is that company parties shifted from obligation to option after COVID.¹⁰

Structural drivers run deeper than the pandemic pause. Sources cite diversified work styles with sharper work and private separation, lower youth alcohol consumption (per-capita 75.4 liters in fiscal 2022, down 25% over 30 years, as of fiscal 2022 National Tax Agency data), and rising prices since 2024.⁴ The counter-signal is that about 60% of firms still report internal communication problems and rank subsidized joint eating and drinking as the top remedy, though that survey's sample is thinly described.⁴

Foreign-Resident Strategy: Participate Selectively

Showing up matters more than drinking. Order a soft drink from the first round, join the kanpai with everyone else, pour for colleagues, and engage in conversation: practitioner sources present this as full participation.¹ Pace yourself by leaving your glass half-full to signal you need no refill.¹

Triage by context. The immediate-team bonenkai is high-value because attendance is most noticed there. Larger firm-wide events are lower priority and safer to skip.

When you are senior to a newcomer, attend their kangeikai: your presence signals welcoming inclusion.

Decline routine gatherings politely with a plausible reason such as a prior commitment, family obligation, or an early morning, and keep declines occasional in the first months while relationships form.¹ Keep conversation light, around hobbies, travel, or food. Avoid strong statements on company politics or management complaints, which can be taken seriously despite the informal setting.¹

Rank suspension ends when the evening does

Bonenkai custom frames the evening as 無礼講 (bureiko, "setting rank aside for the evening"), licensing franker talk about work than a meeting allows.⁵⁶ Treat it as permission for honesty about processes, not rudeness toward people, and assume normal hierarchy resumes the next morning.

Good to know

Declining without damage

Opt-out without major cost is now the rebalanced norm for routine events, and pressuring attendance is widely viewed as harassment.¹⁴ The exception is your own kangeikai, where declining reads as rude.¹ The nijikai is always skippable with a brief polite excuse, and no elaborate explanation is needed.¹

Drinking pressure and the non-drinker path

Almost 80% of workers view pressuring attendance or criticizing non-drinkers as harassment (as of the 2023 Persol Research Institute survey; confirm current figures with Persol Research Institute).⁴ A practitioner guide reports the same near-80% figure for its own audience (as of 2026-03-04).¹ Around half view ordering a beer for someone without asking as harassment (as of the 2025-06-20 republication).⁴

Routine attendance is also a budget line. Seventeen sessions a year at about JPY 4,237 each totals about JPY 6,002 a month, so weigh the calendar against the cost (as of the 2023 Daikokuya survey).⁴ The practical non-drinker path is consistent across sources: order a non-alcoholic drink from the first round, alternate if you do drink, and decline firmly with a short phrase.¹

The kanji role may land on you

The 幹事 (kanji, "organizer") job covers venue booking in the contested December window, headcount, cash collection, seating, and closing accounts.²⁶ It often falls on young or newly joined employees.²⁶

It is unrelated to your actual job yet highly visible, and doing it well is described as a reputation opportunity with superiors.⁶ If the role lands on you, book early: from mid-December onward reservations get harder and harder.⁶

See also

• Leaving Japan: The Emotional Offboarding
• Long-Term Integration in Japan: Patience and the 5-Year Mark
• Building a Sustainable Long-Term Network
• Tsukimi, Year-End, and Omisoka

References

Footnotes

1. Japan Living Life. Bui Le Quan (author page). "Nomikai Work Drinking Culture in Japan Guide." Published 2026-03-04, updated 2026-09-08. https://japanlivinglife.com/articles/nomikai-work-drinking-japan-guide ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

2. EJable. Steven Csorgo. "The Complete Guide to Japanese Work Events and Parties." Updated 2024-10-12. https://www.ejable.com/japan-corner/japanese-culture/japanese-work-events-and-parties/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

3. The Japan Times. Cassandra Lord. "Should we forget the year or forget the party?" Published 2023-12-08. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2023/12/08/language/japanese-language-bonenkai-yearend-parties/ ↩

4. Nippon.com. "Nominication: Japan's Changing Culture of Company Drinking." Published 2025-06-20 (original Japanese 2025-05-20). https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/b11403/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. English Wikipedia. "Bonenkai." Last edited 2026-06-25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Dnenkai ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

6. LIVE JAPAN travel guide. "Bonenkai and Shinnenkai." Last updated 2020-07-14 (original 2019-01-11). https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-tokyo_train_station/article-a0000813/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

7. Coto Academy. "Bonenkai: Guide to Japan's Year-End Party." Published 2025-12-25. https://cotoacademy.com/bounenkai-guide/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. Belonging Japan. Supervised by Chikako Higuchi (etiquette and communication training instructor). "What Is A Bounenkai? Etiquette, Dos And Donts." Published 2025-11-19. https://www.belongingjapan.com/culture/japanese-etiquette/bounenkai-guide/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

9. Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR). "2025 Year-end and New Year party survey" (Japanese page). Published 2025-11-01, survey of 6,225 firms fielded 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-08. https://www.tsr-net.co.jp/data/detail/1201949_1527.html ↩ ↩² ↩³

10. The Mainichi. "Why do so few people in Japan want to go to traditional year-end work parties?" Published 2025-12-17, reporting Hot Pepper gourmet dining research institute survey of 1,035 people in their 20s to 60s, fielded October to November 2025. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251216/p2a/00m/0op/002000c ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵