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 ¡ª clearing outstanding debts, finishing uncompleted projects and other tasks that got away during the year that was ¡ª 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 ry¨ri ¡ª 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 ´Ç²õ³ó¨²µ²¹³Ù²õ³Ü 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 ¡ª it was at once intriguing and daunting.
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