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忘年会 bounenkai
The party where you drink the year away.
What does bounenkai mean?
December's end-of-year drinking party, held to wash off everything that went wrong in the last twelve months. Offices, clubs, friend groups — everyone gets at least one.
Example
今年の忘年会、来週の金曜だって。
This year's end-of-year party is next Friday, apparently.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Safe to use Fine in ordinary conversation.
The story behind bounenkai
The name says it outright: a gathering to forget the year. Year-end gatherings have existed in Japan for centuries, but the version we know — a whole office booking an izakaya, the boss making a speech, someone organising the seating — grew with the modern company and now fills every December calendar to bursting.
It has also become something people quietly negotiate. Around 2019 the phrase bounenkai suruu, skipping the party, spread widely among younger workers, and the pandemic years thinned the tradition further. It survives, but attendance is far less automatic than it was for their parents.
Get bounenkai in your pocket
忘年会 is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
