So what are most people doing?
Most people stay at home and have quiet time with family, from what we can tell. There is an annual, star-studded music show on NHK (public television), some people choose to hike to a high point to watch the sun come up the morning of the First, and almost everyone makes their way to a shrine to pray for the coming year and to get fortunes and charms. Some people line up to be at the shrine right after midnight, others take their time and head over later in the day. Otherwise, though, I think it is fair to say that New Years in Japan is largely marked by food. There are soba noodles for dinner the night before and Osechi (auspicious foods in a box) on new year's day. There is Ozoni - a traditional soup and throughout all the end of one year and the beginning of the next, mochi (pounded rice cakes) are a must. So what did we do?
We probably weren't spot on traditional, but we did our best this year, especially as far as the food went. As I posted before, we ordered our Osechi box several weeks ago. It was delivered promptly at 1:00 on the 31st, so we were ready to go. The box said to store it somewhere below 10 degrees C, and since our refrigerator was far too small to fit the box (even when empty) we decided to keep it on the back porch. We had been getting a sprinkling of snow on and off, so we figured it was plenty cold enough. With our Osechi safely stowed, I started making preparations for our New Years evening. We were planning to have a quiet evening at home, but I was worried about having enough food because I was pretty sure the grocery store would be closed on the first - and maybe early on the 31st. I towed a couple bags of groceries home, including mikan (mandarin oranges) and fresh soba noodles. Actually, we had come home from a nabe party at a friend's home the night before. It was so good and I had learned so much about nabe-making that I decided to make soba nabe for dinner. (Soba, by the way, are buckwheat noodles - dark brow and delicious).
Once I got home, I cleaned the house and set up a futon to act as a couch (I mean, we were planning to spend 3-4 hours watching the music show on NHK, so a little preparation seemed appropriate.) There were mikan in a bowl on our kotatsu - something we had learned from our friend the night before. Apparently eating mikan and sitting under a kotatsu (heated Japanese table) in winter conveys a feeling of pure happiness for all Japanese people. Or so we were told. Its not hard to imagine. I would venture to guess this would extend to all humans if all humans knew what a kotatsu was.
For dinner I set out to make soba nabe. I got about an inch of water boiling in our little pot, threw in a local variety of fresh tuna fillets and scallops along with some chunks of potato and carrot. Once the potato was starting to soften, I put in some roughly chopped shiitake mushrooms and sugar snap peas. I also decided to pour in the broth stock that came with the soba noodles to season the nabe. Once everything was well cooked, I put in the soba noodles and let them boil a couple minutes. We each had a heaping bowl of the stew. It was really delicious. Mixing small quantities of more than one fish really makes a difference in the flavor. The soba stock gave a nice flavor, too. In the past our nabe was either really good, or really bland. We've been wrestling with overcoming blandness, but we have some good tips now.
Full of soba noodles (as we were supposed to be) we sat down to watch the music show. There were a variety of famous singers from many different genres. There were traditional singers, rock stars of years past, idol groups and current chart toppers. They rotated between individual performances and group medleys. Between each song the hosts would make comments while the crew manipulated the set into a new stage for the next act. It was very cleverly put together. While some elements would reappear in new sets, no two sets were the same. Its always interesting to hear the singers live, too. The idol groups are amazingly bad singers before the technicians get to the recordings. The more traditional singers and older stars usually know what they are doing, and occasionally one of the young talents will actually be able to sing. That's always nice.
At midnight we had our shot of brandy for my Grandpa Pieterick and watched the news report from all the shrines around the country. It had snowed all day in many parts of Japan, so there were a lot of beautiful scenes and very cold people standing in line. After watching the news for thirty minutes or so, Russell and I decided against going out to our local shrine just then, and instead opted to go get into our warm bed.
The next morning Russell's friend Yuma came over to make Ozoni for us. Ozoni is another favorite New Year's food. Its a soup but different regions of Japan make it differently. The only constant ingredient that we know of is mochi (pounded rice cake). In our neck of the woods, Ozoni is often made with a white miso soup base, from there, though, any particular family's recipe is up in the air. I can't remember if I posted about our first try at making Ozoni. It involved red carrots, salmon, chestnuts, white miso and, of course, mochi. 
The Ozoni Yuma made for us had browned leeks, regular carrots, mountain yams (whole, not grated), and thinly sliced pork (paper thin - nothing pork-choppy about it). Once all of this had simmered together for a while, he stirred in the white miso and then dropped in chunks of mochi. His girlfriend's family had made the mochi at home in their mochi-maker. Yuma referred to it as "illegal mochi" because it wasn't made in the traditional way (pounded with mallets). It was still pretty darn tasty, though, much better than what we get at the grocery store. The mochi gets all gooey and sticky when it gets hot. It has a very strange texture and is very filling. Some people don't like it, but Russell and I both love it. This particular Ozoni was rich and amazing. We had two servings and then a third serving later that night for dinner after our guests had gone home. 
I mentioned that the Kansai area (our area) generally uses white miso as the soup base. We also learned that the Kantou area (Tokyo area) use a salt stock base - no miso. We asked Yuma's girlfriend what her family does, and she said they only put in cabbage and soy sauce. "What!? No mochi?" "Oh, well, of course mochi too." We asked Yuma what people usually do after eating Ozoni on New Year's day. "Drink!" We had another round of the golden sake he had so kindly brought us. It had actual gold flakes floating in it. Very, very fancy. After the feast, we set out some of my mother's Christmas cookies (which had arrived just that morning thanks to an incredibly kind-hearted mail man) and then played Angry Birds and Euchre. Both were a big hit. There may be more Euchre in our future. Russell was very pleased that he and Megumi annihilated Yuma and I. Yuma and I were less pleased. Nicole and Gwen may just as well have been here, they were spoken of and thought of so frequently during the afternoon.
After Yuma and Megumi left, we were starting to get hungry again so we brought in our Osechi box. We had been looking forward to this for weeks. As I promised, I took many pictures. Osechi is an impressive undertaking. The foods themselves don't seem too difficult to make, but there is a huge number of very small quantities of treats. Our Osechi box had two levels. The top level had: some sort of sliced ham, sweet omelet rolls, mochi balls (that look like striped hard candy), cooked fish, salmon roe, oysters, sweet chestnuts in yam paste, mochi dumplings wrapped in leaves, fried chicken chunks, grilled crunchy fishies (eat 'em whole!), some sort of candied fish chunks and cooked shrimp in the middle.
The second box had:cooked celery, cooked chestnut sprouts, cooked mushrooms and spiraled konyaku (its made from yam, its 0 calorie because it can't be digested and its the consistency of hard set Jello - no strong flavor). There was also burdock root rolled in bacon and cooked, pickled daikon, walnuts in fish and chili paste, black (sweet) soy beans, a bunch more cooked vegetables ( carrot, bamboo shoot, lotus root, seaweed ties and burdock root), some fish cake, two massive black soybeans tucked in a corner and two crunchy yellow spears of fish eggs.
So anyway, lots and lots of stuff. Many, if not most of those things have superstitious meanings. I only know a handful of them, though. I know the black soy beans are for good health in the coming year, the sprouted chestnuts are for new beginnings, the yellow, long, fish egg spears are for fertility in the coming year, the chestnuts in yam paste are for money in the coming year and the shrimp are for long life ('cause they're all curled over like very old people - seriously). The other items - I have no idea.
I had heard mixed reviews on Osechi. Some people look forward to it above all other things, others think the traditional foods are less than appetizing. We found everything to be delicious. I personally don't care so much for the salmon roe (the texture just weirds me out, though the taste is good) or the crunchy fishies. A bit too fishy for me. Everything else was delicious, though. It was all even better than I expected. I definitely want to learn how to make my own Osechi next year so I can continue the tradition for years to come.
We spent the late afternoon pigging out again and then fell over where we were and napped until dinner time. We polished off the last of the ozoni and golden sake and that's where you find me now. Fat and happy and trying to be a responsible blogger. Russell is practicing guitar.
And a very Happy New Year to all! May you have good fortune in 2011!
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