New Years is one of my favorite times in Japan. People party, of course, but it's a lot more than that. It's a time to reflect on the year past, and think ahead to the one in front of you; it's a time to get together with family and pray, not in a religious way, not even necessarily in a spiritual way, but by getting in touch with your most sincere wishes and desires for yourself and the world around you. And it's a time to eat.
I'm not in Tokyo this winter, and chances are you aren't either. But here are a few things you can do anywhere in the world to have a taste of a Japanese New Year:
1. Stick some bamboo in the bush in front of your house to create your very own kadomatsu—a traditional new year decoration.
2. Send nengajyo—postcards with well-wishes for the New Year—to all your friends, business contacts, and acquaintances. The Japanese post office works their ass off for the couple weeks before January 1 to make sure these get to their destinations on time, on the morning of the 1st. My dad gets hundreds every year!
3. Find a Japanese temple near you. Skip the drunken partying and go make a New Years prayer at midnight. Make sure you ring the bell for good luck and pick an omikuji to get a hint of your fortune for 2009.
4. Eat any or all of the following foods on New Years morning: noodles, mochi in light broth, chestnuts, black beans, burdock root, grilled fish. The noodles are called toshi koshi soba; the mochi is part of a yummy soup called ozoni; the rest are part of an elaborate traditional breakfast called osechi.
5. Visit your older relatives to get some New Years money, or otoshidama. Or, if you're on the older end of the family tree, get some nice postcard paper, fold them into postcard-sized envelopes, and put a couple bucks in it and give it to your kids, nieces & nephews, and grandkids. (Older grandkids usually get a slightly larger amount, as a reward for seniority but also as a token of the responsibility that comes with being older.)
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