Easter Eve is December 31st of every year, which is the New Year’s Eve in Japan. January 1st is the New Year. Japan originally had the tradition of using the old calendar to record the years. After the Meiji Restoration, the old calendar festivals were uniformly changed to the new calendar dates. Starting from the New Year Eve, the 7-day holiday is also the first golden holiday in the New Year stipulated by law, commonly known as the “New Year’s Eve”.
In the past, people would wear traditional costumes, decorate the entrance with auspicious ornaments, eat special New Year’s food, and children would play special games to welcome the arrival of the New Year. Now, with the accelerated pace of life, such traditional New Year rituals are rarely seen in big cities. People are more involved in activities such as New Year countdown, going to temples and shrines to pray for blessings, buying New Year’s lucky bags, traveling abroad with the family, and sending New Year’s cards to each other. In small cities with more human touch, you may still see the inheritance of traditional customs.
Osechi cuisine is a special dish made by the Japanese during festivals, especially the main dish during the New Year, so it is also called New Year’s cuisine. Osechi cuisine is usually made up of three layers of lacquerware food boxes, and the ingredients in each layer of the food box are exquisitely matched and beautifully colored. In the past, housewives worked hard to do housework all year round. In order to relax in the first month of the year and get rid of the busy housework, they would prepare a lot of dishes in advance, put them in food boxes, and save them for the New Year. Now that business is developed, people can order Osechi cuisine at department stores. After the development of e-commerce, it is more convenient. Just move the mouse and you can wait for your Osechi cuisine at home. Before the New Year, major businesses will cooperate with famous restaurants, select high-quality ingredients, and launch different concepts of dishes with their own characteristics to attract attention and expand sales.