お正月(oshougatsu) is one of the biggest holidays in Japan. It is very, very different from the New Years that is celebrated in the western half of the world. There are tons of preparations that must happen before the 31st of December, which usually involve cleaning, decorating, and cooking special dishes. This year is the year of the Dragon! All of these preparations happen before 大晦日(Oomisoka- New Years Eve), so everyone is pretty busy around this time of year. There are different ways of celebrating 大晦日 in Japan, the most traditional way is usually in the home with family. Everyone goes back to their place of origin (basically just their parent's house) and then more preparations happen and then celebrations of the New Year and enjoying family time. Some young people in Japan do participate in カウントダウン(countdown) but even that is a little different. A few of my friends (mostly the international one's) celebrated in a different way so I'll do a post about that one soon.
This is 鏡餅(kagami mochi - mirror rice cake) You can find this in just about any super market in Japan right now, except they don't seem very traditional. I think the one's in the super markets are geared for the lazy people (okay, maybe they're just busy) who can't be bothered to make it from scratch. The white bit is the mochi (rice cake) and it is topped with a だいだい(daidai) which is a variety of a bitter orange. (this is all according to wikipedia so I do apologize if I'm getting this wrong). The two different sized mochi are supposed to symbolize the going and coming years, the daidai represents the continuation of a family from generation to generation.
More traditional New Years decorations! You see these just about everywhere you look in Japan. My mom took a bunch of pictures, I just have to wait for her to email them to me or upload to facebook..
お節料理(Osechi ryouri) Traditional New Years Food
Each ingredient has a special meaning (good health, good harvest, happiness, prosperity, etc) and yellow colored dishes are supposed to represent prosperity, the red/pink and white dishes represent celebration colors, and the beans represent a wish for good health. The Osechi is all prepared a few days before New Years so that there is no need to cook for a few days. Since preparing all of this can be quite time consuming, you can actually order them pre-made at some supermarkets! There are actually a variety of different Osechi in Japan, it's not one set style or anything. Another New Years-y dish is called お雑煮(ozoni) it's another special dish with mochi in it!
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