Japan’s year-end jumbo lottery

With the end of the year fast approaching, now’s a good time to learn about the different ways celebrating New Year’s in Japan differs from back home. There’s eating toshi-koshi soba (year-crossing buckwheat noodles) at midnight and hatsumode (the first shrine visit), but have you ever heard of the Nenmatsu Jumbo Takarakuji or year-end jumbo lottery? With 700 million yen as the main cash prize, here’s a brief overview of another Japanese New Year’s tradition.

1. Year-End Jumbo Takarakuji 
2. Lottery Prizes
3. Joining the Year-End Jumbo Lottery
4. How to Claim the Prize Money

Year-End Jumbo Takarakuji

Lotteries have long been a part of Japanese culture. Dating back to the 1600s, monks at temples used lottery games to maintain their temples and would award amulets to winners. Eventually, the practice was outlawed until just a few months after World War II. This reintroduction of the lottery system helped prefectures recover from the aftermath of the war. 

These days, Jumbo Lotteries are one of the most popular types of lotteries. These are large-prize seasonal lotteries that run throughout the year. All you need to do is to buy lottery tickets in hopes they match the winning numbers. If it matches, then you can claim the prize money. While it sounds simple enough in theory, the odds are slim to say the least. Still, that doesn’t stop most people from trying.

There are several types of seasonal Jumbo lotteries are drawn throughout the year:

• February to March: Valentine Jumbo Lottery
• April to May: Dream Jumbo Lottery
• July to August: Summer Jumbo Lottery
• October to November: Halloween Jumbo Lottery 
• Mid-November to December: Year-End Jumbo Lottery 

The ticket designs change with the season, and the Year-End Jumbo Lottery ticket is no exception. Over the years, it’s slowly become a New Year’s tradition among Japanese families as a way to end and start the year on a hopeful note.

Lottery Prizes

Want to know the prize money in the past few years? Here’s a short summary.

Joining the Year-End Jumbo Lottery According to the official Takarakuji website, about 81.4% of Japanese people have purchased a lottery ticket as of 2022. 

Note that the Year-End Jumbo lottery has two categories: the main lottery and the Jumbo mini. The only difference is the amount of prize money that you can potentially win. To join, there are several places to buy lottery tickets: at the nearest convenience store, online or at the official Takarakuji outlets (Lottery Chance Centers) and Mizuho Bank. There isn’t a legal age limit for joining, though generally, the minimum age is for those 20 years old and above. Each ticket typically costs ¥300. 

Tickets are available until December 21, and the winning numbers are announced on New Year’s Eve. The results will be displayed in Japanese in the newspaper and the lottery outlets.

How to Claim the Prize Money

Click here to read more.

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