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Japanese New Year: Foods
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In preparation for the New Year, Japanese businesses attempt to settle all accounts and homes are cleaned and decorated. Many companies hold bonenkai (forget the year parties) and give generous bonuses to their employees. Gifts of money, sake and gourmet foods are typically given as a show of appreciation to persons who have been helpful in the past year such as a student to a teacher. For about one week prior to New Years Day, housewives begin the involved preparation of traditional New Years food which will be enjoyed by friends and family between January first through the third. New Years greeting cards in the form of postcards are sent out and the Japanese post office has a special detail which delivers them on January first.
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On New year's morning all the members of the family dress in traditional kimonos. This is the one time of the year When everyone wears this type of clothing. Families eat a meal together which usually features a special type of buckwheat noodle called soba, a symbol of long life. Children try to swallow at least one noodle whole for good luck. Other New Year's foods are black beans and rice cakes. Children receive New Year's gifts, particularly coins in special money envelopes called noshigami.
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A beginning Japanese ESL student may be asked to contribute information about the food served for the Japanese Osho-gatsu (New Year). This student will be asked to draw pictures of the food served and to label them.
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In Japan, New Year’s day is spent gathering at the principal family member’s home (parents or grandparents), visiting with relatives, eating and playing games. January 2nd is spent traveling to a temple (Buddhist or Shinto) to pray for good fortune in the coming year. And the third day is usually spent seeing everyone you haven’t seen yet and wishing you could have something other than festival food.
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Females prepare Osechi foods sufficient for New Year first three days so that no cooking is necessary these three days. Osechi foods are beautifully arranged in a lacquer ware called Jyuhbako or O-jyuh (this O is for politeness and jyuh is the abbreviation of Jyuhbako which means pilable box. Cooking Osechi is a hard work. Nowadays, sets of Osechi are sold in super-market.
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Japanese New Year's food is called osechi-ryori, and colorful osechi-ryori dishes are packed in layers of lacquer boxes, called jubako. Each dish and ingredient in osechi has meaning, such as good health, fertility, good harvest, happiness, long life, and so on. The kinds of osechi dishes eaten at Japanese homes vary from region to region.
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