Japanese new year celebration.

How is New Year celebrated in Japan? Japanese New Year celebration is called Oshogatsu. At midnight on December 31, all the Buddhist temples of the cities bells ring 108 times. The 108 chimes represent the 108 worldly desires: the purification of the condition of greed. New Year's Day on January 1 is called gantan and is a Japanese national holiday. 

It's the most important holiday in Japan. People say to each other "akemashite-omedetou-gozaimasu" (Happy New Year) whenever they see at the first time in the new year.

Japanese people eats special dishes called Osechi ryori during Oshogatsu. They are packed in a Jubako box, which has several layers.  
Each dish has a particular meaning. For example, prawns for long life, herring roe for fertility, and so on. It is also traditional to eat Ozoni, inside it's Mochi (rice cake) and each area of Japan has its ingredients: chiken or fish, vegetables.

Zouni (rice cake soup) is the most popular mochi dish. The ingredients vary depending on regions and families.

There is a custom of giving money to children during New Year's holidays in Japan. It's called otoshidama. If you are going to family gatherings, it's good to prepare some money in small envelopes.
Grandparents are the ones that give more to the children. Often, it happens that even the kids at the end of the holidays have more money than adults.

It is traditional for Japanese people to visit a shrine or a temple during New Year's holidays. People pray for safety, health, good fortune and throw little coins or insert them into a box to offers front the temple. The first visit to a temple or shrine in a year is called hatsumoude. 

Most of businesses in Japan are typically closed around the 29th or 30th of December to the 3rd or 4th of January, depending on the kind of business and day of week. In recent years, many restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, and department stores are open even during New Year's holidays. Many department stores hold New Year's special sales, so it might be worth it to check the prices out if you have shopping needs.

Fukubukuro is a custom widespread in shops and supermarkets in Japan. You can buy a shopper with surprise: you don't know what you'll find. But you know that the value is two, three, even four times, or even more than the cost of purchase.
So there are many queues and traffic in front of the stores and supermarkets.

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