Christmas and St. Valentine's Day may find favor in the eyes of young people, but New Year's Day is still the highlight of Japan's festive calendar. With kadomatsu pines at the doors of people's homes, New Year's cards cramming post boxes, and shrines crowded as people make their hatsumode (first visit of the year), the atmosphere is always lively.
But for most people, osechi ryori undoubtedly tops all the holiday's other traditional features. This festive food, only eaten during the first few days of the new year, is an assortment of colorful side dishes placed neatly in jubako (stacked boxes).
The word osechi itself is a shortened form of osechiku, which is food offered at a home altar on the festival days of Jan. 1, Jan. 7, March 3, May 5, July 7 and Sept. 9 in a ritual which began in the Heian Period (794-1185). Now, though, osechi ryori usually refers only to those delicacies eaten at New Year's.