Why Japanese Stores Play Auld Lang Syne at Closing Time (Hotaru no Hikari)

The short answer: Japanese stores play “Auld Lang Syne” at closing time because in Japan, the melody is known as Hotaru no Hikari, a farewell song that every Japanese person learns at school and sings at graduation. Hearing it automatically means “it’s time to say goodbye”, so stores use it as a polite, wordless signal that they are about to close, instead of making announcements or rushing customers out.

If you’ve ever been shopping in Japan in the evening, you’ve probably heard it: the familiar melody that most Westerners connect with New Year’s Eve suddenly starts playing through the speakers of a supermarket or department store. Many visitors are confused at first. In this guide, I’ll explain where the tradition comes from, the surprising twist about which version stores actually play, and what you should do when you hear it.

Hotaru no Hikari: How Auld Lang Syne Came to Japan

The story begins in the late 19th century, when Japan was modernizing at high speed and building a Western-style school system. In 1880, the American music educator Luther Whiting Mason was invited to help develop music education in Japan, and Western folk songs were adapted with new Japanese lyrics for school use.

“Auld Lang Syne” was one of them. In 1881, it appeared in an elementary school songbook as Hotaru no Hikari (蛍の光), “The Light of the Fireflies”. The Japanese lyrics have nothing to do with the original Scottish poem. They describe a hard-working student who studies by the light of fireflies and the glow of snow, and who finally leaves school to go out into the world.

Because of this story, the song became the classic farewell song for graduation ceremonies, and generations of Japanese students have sung it on their last day of school. To this day, it’s also sung by all performers at the very end of NHK’s famous New Year’s Eve music show, Kohaku Uta Gassen. For Japanese people, the melody simply means one thing: the end of something.

Why Do Japanese Stores Play It at Closing Time?

Once you know that the melody means “goodbye” to everyone in Japan, the store tradition makes perfect sense. Playing it is the most polite way to tell customers that it’s time to leave, without anyone having to say it.

This fits perfectly with Japanese service culture. Directly telling customers to leave, or switching off the lights, would feel rude. Loud announcements would break the calm atmosphere. Music, on the other hand, gives shoppers a gentle hint and a few minutes to finish what they are doing, so the shopping experience ends on a relaxed note. It’s the same idea behind the melodies you hear at Japanese train stations or the chimes that mark the end of the school day: sound is used to guide people without words.

Nobody knows exactly which store started the tradition. It most likely spread after World War II, and by the 1960s it was already a common sound in Japanese stores.

The Twist: Many Stores Actually Play “Wakare no Waltz”

Here’s something even many Japanese people don’t know. The closing music you hear in a lot of stores is often not Hotaru no Hikari itself, but a different arrangement called Wakare no Waltz (別れのワルツ), “The Farewell Waltz”.

Both are based on the same melody, but there’s an easy way to tell them apart. Hotaru no Hikari, the school song, is in a regular four-beat rhythm. Wakare no Waltz is, as the name says, a waltz in three-four time, which gives it a softer, swaying feel. It was released in Japan in 1949 and is connected to the Hollywood film Waterloo Bridge, in which a waltz version of “Auld Lang Syne” plays in a famous farewell scene. The film was hugely popular in post-war Japan, and the waltz version became a hit of its own.

So next time you hear the closing music, listen to the rhythm. If you can count “one, two, three”, you’re hearing the Farewell Waltz.

Where You’ll Hear the Closing Music in Japan

You’ll hear the melody in department stores, shopping malls, supermarkets, bookstores, electronics stores, many restaurants and even some public facilities like libraries and swimming pools. It usually starts playing in the last minutes before closing time.

One place you won’t hear it: convenience stores. Most of them are open 24 hours a day, so there is simply no closing time to announce. If you want to know more about Japan’s famous konbini, have a look at my Japan convenience store guide.

Is the Tradition Changing?

For Japanese customers, the message is crystal clear. For foreign visitors, it often isn’t. Many tourists simply hear a nice melody and keep browsing. In 2024, the 100-yen shop chain Daiso announced that it would stop using Hotaru no Hikari as its closing music for exactly this reason, because more and more foreign tourists didn’t realize the song meant the store was closing. Instead, it introduced a new, specially composed closing tune.

Most other stores still play the classic melody, though, and it’s likely to remain the sound of closing time in Japan for a long time.

What to Do When You Hear It

If the melody starts playing while you’re still shopping, it’s time to wrap up. Grab what you need, head to the checkout and leave in the next few minutes. Nobody will rush you, but staying until after closing time is considered impolite, because the staff can only start cleaning up once the last customer has left. It’s one of those small unwritten rules that make traveling in Japan smoother, just like the ones in my guide on how to travel in Japan without speaking Japanese.

How Japan Adapts Western Traditions

The story of Hotaru no Hikari is part of a bigger pattern. Japan often takes customs from the West and gives them a completely new meaning. A famous example is the Christmas tradition of eating fried chicken: when Western-style Christmas became popular, turkey was hard to find, and KFC became the Christmas meal of choice thanks to a clever marketing campaign.

The same goes for seasonal events like a Christmas market in Tokyo, which often blends European Christmas traditions with a bit of Oktoberfest atmosphere. Just like a Scottish New Year’s song turned into Japan’s farewell melody, these traditions show how Japan adapts outside influences until they feel distinctly Japanese. You can find more examples in my Japan culture guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion: A Polite Goodbye in Music

The closing music in Japanese stores is more than a quirky habit. It’s a small window into Japanese culture: a Scottish song brought to Japan’s schools in the 19th century became the country’s farewell melody, and stores now use it to say goodbye to their customers without a single word.

Whether you’re in Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka, when you hear those soft notes in the evening, you’ll know exactly what they mean. Want to listen to it before your trip? You can find it on Spotify. For more of my Japan guides, visit the Japan Insider Hub.