If you're really motivated, you get yourself off to Mt Fuji (to hang out with the bikers) or down to Enoshima to watch the first sunrise of the new year. But most people are probably sleeping off mild sake hangovers or worse - making last minute preparations for o sechi ryouri. It's designed to save the women of the house from doing cooking for a few days, but if you make it yourself, you'll be slaving for a few days before, anyway. My Mother-in-Law ordered ours. Smart woman. It looks gorgeous, though a lot of items are either quite salty or sweet, as they were made back in the days before refrigeration. Each item has a symbolic meaning, which may be more important than the taste.
You can see the spread here, for 4 to 5 people, supplemented with roast ham and ozoni soup. Lobsters and prawns symbolise long life - they're bent over like an old person. Near the front you can see a yellow thing: kazunoko, rather chewy dried, salted herring row, which, being so prolific in eggs, is meant to encourage fertility. In the bamboo cup, you'll find kuromame - black beans, meant to protect you from evil. Next to that is a little dish of kinton - sweet, slightly mashed chestnuts to represent money. In the second box you can just see kohada awazuke- marinate shad, carrot. It's meant to help you get a promotion at work... the bottom line is, your MIL will encourage you to try everything, as everything is lucky in some way. One of my favourite items is date maki, which is a sweetened, rolled omelet, shaped like a scroll, so they're supposed to make you smart.
To be honest, this was last year's osechi, before the Tohoku disaster. This year, in the spirit of restraint and tighter economic times, we had a much simpler version. Still, Aunty brought over her shamisen, so we had some entertainment (well, I dutifully listened, the others dozed off). In some ways, a Japanese New Year's Day is a lot like a western Christmas: eating lots of good food, enjoying wine, beer and sake and cake, then falling asleep on the sofa or the heated carpet in front of the TV.
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