Mercari is home to a huge number of clubs (you can even make your own club if you find 5 people who are interested!). One of the clubs z-bonjour, Mercari’s French culture, and language club, recently celebrated La Fête des Rois (the Three Kings’ Day).

January 6th, La Fête des Rois (the Three Kings’ Day) is a festival in France in which family and friends share a piece of cake called La Galette des Rois or the Three Kings’ Cake, marking the Epiphany feast and the end of the holiday season.

There are many variations of La Galette des Rois across France, but a typical cake consists of a pastry case filled with frangipane. Hidden inside the cake, there is a small treasure “fève” and the person who finds it in their piece of cake is named “King or Queen” and wears a paper crown.

This year, the members of z-bonjour shared 4 Galettes des Rois from two famous French patisseries in Tokyo and wished each other a Happy New Year! Julien, a member of z-bonjour and last year’s King, tells us more about this tradition in his home town Nice:

While in France bakeries are filled with Galettes around the New Year season, in Japan it is still rare to find. For this reason, Julien decided to go for a homemade one this year.

In the club z-bonjour we have monthly activities throughout the year, bringing Mercari members from different nationalities together with the purpose of sharing all about French culture and lifestyle. One of the popular topics of conversation in the channel is French food in Japan, and Wam, a French engineer living and working for 7 years in Japan is one of the connoisseurs of where to find good baguettes and French restaurants for our club lunches.

In Mercari we have members of 40 different nationalities. Clubs like z-bonjour help give members a chance to enjoy being part of Mercari in an inclusive atmosphere, aiming to cultivate better relationships among colleagues from different countries and backgrounds.

Bonne Année 2020 from z-bonjour and see you again for more #MercariDays!