Understanding Otoshidama: A Japanese New Year Tradition
Otoshidama (お年玉) is a cherished Japanese custom where money gifts are given to children during the New Year period. Traditionally, adults give cash in special decorative envelopes called “pochi-bukuro” to children in their family or close social circle. The practice symbolizes good fortune and blessings for the new year. Beyond monetary gifts, the New Year season in Japan involves extensive gift exchanges among family, friends, and colleagues, making it essential to keep track of who gave what to maintain proper social reciprocity.
(Rewritten for 2025!)
This year, I was able to enjoy app development thanks to the users of “Memorio People Note.” One aspect of app development involves learning from other developers’ useful apps. This week, I researched apps related to gift recording. Since the New Year period is a time when we interact frequently with people, I thought this would be helpful for note readers as well. Here, I’ll introduce four apps: “Memorio People Note,” “Gift Recorder,” “Gift Box,” and “Relationship Record Book.”
Memorio People Note
This is an iOS/Android app I created this year that combines contacts and diary features. Like Gift Recorder, data is stored in the cloud, so you can continue using it across devices. You can also take photos of gifts and add tags. You can organize people into groups and use the family registration feature. Please use it not only for gifts but also as a diary for daily interactions.
https://peoplenote.app/install
Gift Recorder
First up is Gift Recorder, a gift recording app released in early summer 2020. Since it stores data in the cloud, you can transfer data from iPad to iPhone with the same account. The icon and screenshots are well-designed.
https://apps.apple.com/jp/app//id1514423614
Gift Box
The second app, Gift Box, is a gift memo app released in 2018. You can record not only items but also anniversaries of the people you’ve entered. An interesting feature is that you can share the gifts you’ve recorded with other users. (I also find it challenging to balance private content and community building in my own app.) The icon has a cool design that Japanese people would recognize as celebration-related.
https://apps.apple.com/jp/app//id1372073460
Relationship Record Book
Relationship Record Book is a well-established app with the most reviews among these four. Based on the screenshots, the functionality is simplified, allowing you to view a list of items received from and given to people. Looking at the reviews, some mention “too many ads,” highlighting the difficulty of balancing free apps with advertising revenue in app development.
https://apps.apple.com/jp/app//id1437096766
This note article introduced four apps that can record gifts and Otoshidama. While using an app doesn’t automatically create good relationships, I believe that consistently using one app you like can “help” you cherish people. If you have any recommended gift recording apps you’re using, I’d be happy if you could share them in the comments section of this note or on Twitter @MemorioApp.