by Willie Chan

In my New Year's article, I shared some thoughts about Chinese New Year customs and asked readers to write in to tell us about any that they knew of. This prompted a reply from our old friend Gail Mihara who mentioned that she'd spent some time at a friend's house in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year.  They cooked a whole duck, some greens (for financial success), and mushrooms (to complete projects and achieve things).  "It seems rather complex," writes Gail, "but my friend said that if it were a traditional dinner with her family, she would need to cook nine dishes!" 

Gail also sent some information she'd heard about Japanese New Year customs:

The Japanese cook certain foods to signify different things, among them the following:

• kazunoko:  seasoned herring roe for the prosperity of one's descendents
• kurikinton:  pureed chestnut and sweet potato for wealth
• kuromame:  black boiled soybeans for good health

We ran this past our own Osumi who told us that the New Year food is called "osechi" and is served in a special four-tiered box called a jubako.  Many different types of food can make up the osechi.  Osumi also told us that many modern Japanese purchase the food rather than cook it (to save time). Seems like our Japanese friends are just as busy as the rest of us!

Wamest aloha,
Willie