Shortly after the Black Friday rush on shopping specials ends, the year-end madness in Japan known as “shiwasu” (loosely translated as “professors running in a tizzy”) officially begins.
Before greeting the new year, Japanese society is focused on tying up loose ends — clearing outstanding debts, finishing uncompleted projects and other tasks that got away during the year that was — making everyone super busy. Those in the food service industry resolutely cater to harried households during the year-end holidays, selling elaborate Christmas cakes intended to be eaten on or before Dec. 25, as well as osechi ryōri — traditional holiday fare that is eaten on New Year’s Day and several days thereafter.
Shortly after arriving in Japan in the mid-1960s, I experienced my first oshōgatsu New Year holiday in the rural Shikoku kitchen of the Andoh family. I spent the holiday making the many, varied dishes typical in an osechi feast under the tutelage of the women who would, several years later, become my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. None of the food they taught me resembled any holiday fare I had ever eaten growing up in America — it was at once intriguing and daunting.
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