With 2025 into its second month and resolve for New Year’s resolutions wearing thin, you might be thinking back to those heady days right after Jan. 1 — family and friends gathered together, sharing food, drinks, hopes and dreams for the year to come.
Sorry to say, but there’s not much you can do to recapture that moment besides waiting for 2026 to roll around. But what you can re-create is the food.
The term “matsukaze” is attached to many concepts in Japan’s cultural consciousness. Literally translated as “wind blowing through pine trees,” it can refer to, among many things: the sound of whistling steam from a kettle used in tea ceremony, the titular character of a famous noh play, or a poppy seed-topped cookie from Kyoto.
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