What do you do on New Year's Day? Some people follow the custom of hatsumode and head off for their first visit of the year to a shrine; others simply stay in and have a party with relatives and friends. For almost every Japanese family, though, one of the highlights of this holiday is eating osechi ryori, the colorful assortment of traditional seasonal delicacies.
But osechi is more than just a meal served in beautiful black-lacquer jubako (stacked boxes).
"When I was younger, I didn't think that osechi was very tasty," says Yukio Hattori, president of Ecole de Cuisine et Nutrition Hattori. "But after my parents told me that osechi was important food offered to god, and we must eat it to pray for health and good luck, I began to enjoy it. It is a lot different if you eat it knowing this background information."