The name means "forget the year": a party in December to close off the year's work and its troubles. Departments hold their own, companies hold larger ones, and many businesses also hold them with clients and suppliers. The shinnenkai, the new-year party, plays the same role in January and some companies hold that instead. Both usually take the form of a dinner with set courses and drinks at a restaurant or hotel, often with speeches from senior management.
The custom is shrinking rather than disappearing. Tokyo Shoko Research surveys companies every year. Its December 2025 survey of about 6,200 companies found 57.2% holding a year-end or new-year party that season, the first year-on-year fall since the pandemic and well below the 78.4% before it. The leading reason given for not holding one was cost, and the survey also pointed to a gap between management, who want team bonding, and employees, who would rather spend the evening with people of their own choosing.
When a bonenkai is held, it is usually still the one evening of the year where the whole team, including the most senior people, sit together outside the hierarchy.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Treat it as a company event, not an optional extra. If the company pays and the leader hosts, the message lands. A Japan entity with no year-end gathering at all can read as a branch office that does not invest in its people.
- Show up if you are the regional leader. A short visit and a few words of thanks in December do more than the same message by email in January.
- Protect the calendar. Avoid scheduling global calls or deadlines on the evening, which is usually fixed weeks ahead.
- Mind the risks. Keep it within reasonable hours and make clear that drinking is optional. Pressure at year-end events features in harassment complaints.
- Include December joiners. A senior hire starting in December meets more people at the bonenkai than in their first month of meetings.
Sources
- Tokyo Shoko Research, survey on year-end and new-year parties, conducted 1–8 December 2025, published 17 December 2025.