Sometimes, you might get to the end of a year and be glad it¡¯s over. And it seems that whoever coined the term ÍüÄê»á (²ú¨²Ô±ð²Ô°ì²¹¾±) shared that sentiment, as the three kanji individually mean Íü (²ú¨), forget; Äê (nen, toshi), year; and »á (kai), party or meet-up.
Together, ÍüÄê»á is used to refer to an ¡°end-of-year party,¡± and its dictionary definition is ¡°¤½¤ÎÄê¤Î¿à„º¤òÍü¤ì¤ë¤¿¤á¤ËÄêÄ©¤Ë´ß¤¹Ñç»á¡± (sono toshi no kur¨ o wasureru tame ni nenmatsu ni moyo¡¯osu enkai, a party held at the end of the year to forget the hardships of that year.) But more colloquially, it means a chance to get drunk and forget that night. Whether you drink enough to forget an entire year is a different question!
For the past few decades, at least, ÍüÄê»á have been commonly associated with ߻á (nomikai, drinking parties) held by whatever company you work at. Typically, depending on the size of the company, this might involve finding a place that does ¤ªµê¤Þ¤ë¤´¤ÈÙJÇÐ (o-mise marugoto kashikiri, renting out an entire restaurant). At larger companies, it¡¯s more likely that there will be smaller parties for each ²¿ (bu, department).
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.