Now is when I have the strongest feeling that I'm Japanese.

In Japan, the last few days of the year are the most hectic in the year. People often say that they don't leave things to be done until the next year, so they try to have everything done within the year. Although some traditions are fading out from Japan, the New Year celebration still makes many people feel like they have to do something based on tradition.

People will clean their entire house during the last few days of the year to greet and enjoy the New Year. They first distinguish necessary things from unnecessary ones, and then they try to throw away as many things as possible. After that, they wipe every nook and cranny of their houses as if they were trying not to carry over any dust to the coming year. Since the idea called 断捨離/dan-sha-ri (please see Note 1 below) has become very popular this year, I think that people try to throw away many more things than usual .

On the 31st of December, wives are usually stuck in kitchens cooking special dishes called おせち料理/osechi ryori ( please see the pictures) for the New Year Holidays, although more and more people are buying them. These dishes were developed when refrigerators didn't exist. They were basically nonperishable foods at the time. In other words, they were cooked to last for a few days so that wives did not have to cook during the New Year holidays. Because of this, the special dishes will be strong and too sweet if you cook them based on the general recipes. Speaking of nonperishable foods at the time, some kinds of sushi/寿司 were developed to last longer, as well.

Anyway, people are willing to buy expensive foods because of the New Year celebration, whether or not these foods are what they are supposed to eat during the New Year holidays. Some want to use new sheets starting from the 1st day of the year. I'll stop listing these things. All in all, shops can enjoy good sales during the last week of the year.

I'm often told that I'm different from ordinary Japanese. This might be because I lived in foreign countries for seven years in total. On top of that, I'm flexible about tradition. However, I do feel like doing something before the New Year holidays. Yesterday, I spent a much longer time than usual to clean up my house. Today, I'll go shopping. Tomorrow, I'll cook some special dishes.

I wish you all the best in 2011!

Note1 :断捨離 /dan sha ri
I'm not sure where this idea and phrase come from, although I've heard that they came from Yoga. This means thinking about your life by means of thinking about what things around you really need and throwing away things other than those you really need. Books and magazines relating to 断捨離 are enjoying good sales.