Yesterday we went to a local temple in Chita-shi (Aichi prefecture) called Daikouji where people bring their old daruma dolls. Once a daruma has been used it should be burned the following year in a temple during a ceremony called Daruma Kuyou.

In front of the temple. Many people were present to burn their old darumas and buy new ones for the new year

The temizuya. The first thing visitors do is to clean theirs hands with water of the temizuya to purify their body and spirit. Note that temizuyas are usually found in shrines (shintoism) and not in temples (buddhism) but in Japan the two religions are often mixed together

In the temple court

The temple. People climb the steps to trow a coin and make a wish

The daruma’s burning located on the temple court

These little wooden slates are called ema. They can be found in temples or shrines. People buy one and write a wish on it and then they hang it.

Once the old daruma dolls have been thrown to the fire people buy new ones.

Celebrated on the second Monday of January, Coming of Age Day (‘Seijin no hi’ in Japanese) is a day dedicated to people who turn twenty years old between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the current one.
Most of localities organize a ceremony called Seijin Shiki for them. The young women wear a furisode (traditional clothe which can only be worn by unmarried women) and zouri (wood sandals). The young men may wear the traditional clothe called haori hakama or a suit and a tie.
In Japan twenty years old is considered as the age of adulthood. For these reason Japanese people can vote, drink and smoke from this age.
After the ceremony most of the twenty-year-olds join together for a drink session which cause some abuse every year.

When the clock strikes midnight for the New Year the first thing people do is to visit a shrine or a temple to make a wish. Next big event on the following day is Fukubukuro which means lucky bag.
These lucky bags are filled with various mysterious articles. Many shops and department stores sell fukubukuro to pull in more customers. They originally contain secret goods and people who buy those bags don’t know what is inside. However, in any case they are sure to get goods that are more valuable than the selling price of the bag (sometimes several times the price of the bag). As people do not know what they will get they may be either happy or disappointed once they have opened it.

Many people buy brand clothes fukubukuros in department stores while others buy commodity ones in local supermarkets. However, these days some shop sell deluxe fukubukuros during the New Year sales such as a bag valued at 20.11 millions yen especially created for the year 2011, a 100-millions-yen bag containing a diamond necklace, others including vacation packages or even houses. A standard fukubukuro costs about 10,000yen and the type of items inside varies following the shop.

Osechi-ryouri is the traditional New Year food. Various kinds of dishes are set in a three-tiered lacquered bento box. Each dish has some positive meaning. This is also true for the bento box with each level representing a layer of happiness.
The first box includes the three must-have dishes which are tatsukuri (little sardines boiled in soy sauce) to wish for a good harvest, kazunoko (herring roe) which represents fertility and kuromame (cooked black beans) to ward off evil spirits and wish for good health.
The second box includes grilled food and pickled vegetables as well as fish in various dressings.

The third box usually includes boiled meat and vegetables.
It’s also very common to eat kinako-mochi (rice cake with soy bean powder) and anko-mochi (rice cake in boiled red beans) for the New Year.

Osechi used to be cooked at home for New Year holiday so that family didn’t have to prepare each meal for a few days and could relax . However, today most of people buy it in supermarkets for a few thousands yen or in department stores where they can get luxury Osechi costing between 50,000 and 300,000yen.

First of all Happy New Year to everyone!
This year 2011 in Japan is the year 23 of the Heisei period which means the present Emperor has been on the throne for 23 years.
This is also the rabbit year (called usagi in Japanese) and you can find a lot of products with rabbits on them which have been made specifically for this year.
Usually people for New Year Eve stay at home and eat soba while watching TV. Then when midnight has came they go to a shinto shrine or a buddhist temple to make a wish.
On the 1st of January families’ members join together for a meal called oshougatsu ryouri. The main element of the meal is the osechi (I will write an article about it tomorrow).
We hope this year will be a great year for all of you! As for us we are very excited to start our first complete year with Tokyo Smart and we hope this year will mark the start of a great success!

A few days ago we bought a kagamimochi in the supermarket next door and I thought it would be a good idea to talk about. As I don’t know much about it this post has been written by Yumi!

Kagamimochi is a set of two round flat mochies (rice cakes) with the smaller one placed on top of the larger one. Usually a mikan (mandarin orange) is displayed on top of the mochies for good luck. Mikan’s color is orange. In Japanese orange color can be said ‘orenji’ or ‘daidai’ which also means ‘for generations’. The deeply-felt wish is to maintain family prosperity for generations.
Some regions use kaki (persimmon) instead of mikan.

People usually place kagamimochi in the tokonoma (alcove in a traditional Japanese room where art or flowers are displayed) or on a Shinto altar during a period called Shogatsu (from the 1st to the 15th of January).
Kagamimochi becomes very hard after being displayed for more than ten days and traditionally people have to break it into smaller pieces with a hammer. A knife should not be used as it is believed to sever the divine power the kagamimochi holds. We eat kagamimochi to wish for a healthy and happy year on the 11th January. This is the Japanese traditional way.

I used to make round flat mochies at my grandparents’ home with all family members on the New year’s day after we pounded steamed mochi rice.
However, there are many plastic kagamimochies you can buy in supermarket nowadays. They are from one of most popular mochi company. A plastic box which look like real kagamimochies is filled with packs of round flat mochies. There are many different sizes available so people can choose the appropriate model depending of the number of family members.