Akemashite Omedetou! Ringing in the new year, Japanese style

In the heart of her kitchen, Moe Cheshire scoops a ladle of hot broth into a bowl of mochi cakes that will be topped off with garnishes in shades of pink and green.

This seaweed infused soup is called ozoni, the first meal usually served on the first day of Oshogatsu, the Japanese New Year, which takes place from Jan. 1-3. 

During these three days, family and friends will indulge in merrymaking centred on elaborately made meals, drinks, and customary activities — the first of which is a deep cleaning of the house before New Year's Eve. 

"I remember my dad and my mom and me and my brother just kept cleaning and cleaning and cleaning," said Cheshire, "until [there was] no more dust in the house."

In the night leading up to Jan. 1, the children would stay awake until the hush of night to receive a tasty snack. 

"When the midnight comes, we had to eat Toshikoshi soba, which is Japanese soba noodles," said Cheshire with a smile. "And while you are waiting for this Japanese Toshikoshi soba, you had to watch a traditional Japanese music TV show called Kohaku on NHK — NHK is like the CBC in Canada."

After watching the television special, everyone would go back to bed only to wake up again in the wee hours to catch the first sunrise of the new year. Cheshire and her immediate and extended family members would drive out to a nearby mountain to welcome the rising sun with a prayer for good fortune, before returning home to wine and dine.

"I remember people would start drinking in the morning," said Cheshire with a chuckle. 

Among the many customs pertaining to celebrating Japan's most important festival, preparing and eating osechi, or traditional new year's dishes, takes the top spot. Traditionally, drinking ozoni is a must, but so is eating kuri-kinton — balls of mashed sweet potatoes with chestnuts that symbolize treasure or good luck.

For Cheshire, cooking ozoni is simple and takes less than an hour to prepare: in a pot of water, place a few pieces of dried kelp and a teaspoon of dried tuna powder (also known as dashi or bonito powder). Boil on a simmer until the stock tastes of seaweed. Stir in a tablespoon or two of soy sauce, along with a pinch of salt, and add a few pieces of chopped carrots and Japanese sweet taro. Cook until the vegetables soften. Serve this broth hot over mochi cakes topped with slivers of green onion.

For Cheshire, observing Oshogatsu in St. John's is a small and intimate gathering of some 50 Japanese community members. Over a potluck, people get together on Jan. 2, as the 1st is usually devoted to other local invitations from neighbours, friends, and peers. No celebration is complete without the customary greeting of Akesmashite Omedeto, or "Happy New Year."

There's no place like home 

Cheshire and her family moved from Alaska to St. John's in 2019, due to her husband's job in the oil and gas industry. In remembering how she first got to know of Newfoundland and Labrador, she had an amusing story to tell. 

"I searched [online] for St. John's and what I saw was a tropical island with beautiful emerald green ocean. It's like Hawaii-looking, so I was like, 'Oh my gosh! Yes! I'm going to go to St. John's.'"

Cheshire said her husband was trying to ascertain whether she would be satisfied with the move. "[I told him] 'Of course, honey! What are you worried about? I will love the place. I'm going to put my bikini in my suitcase.' He was like, 'Why are you going to bring your bathing suit?'"

She said her husband sensed something strange about her reaction, and said, "'Baby, I just want to show you the picture of where we're going, OK?'"

Cheshire said what she saw was an overhead view of a place covered in snow.

"Looks like lots of colourful houses, which was beautiful. I liked it, but then I said, 'Wait a second, why does it look so cold? Where's my tropical island?'"

Cheshire said her husband told her she had been looking at the wrong place: not St. John's, but Saint John's: the capital of the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda.

"I was like, 'What is Newfoundland? Wait a second...'" said Cheshire, hooting with laughter.

Although she enjoys spending Oshogatsu with her husband and her 13-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter, Cheshire longs to spend this auspicious time of happy gathering with her parents back home in Japan

"They are old but I just want to make ozoni with them. Buy some ingredients with my mom and make osechi food with my mom and call my cousins and call my other family," she said.

"I don't have many family members like Newfoundlanders do here. It's ginormous families here, but still, I want to get together with my family and want to have a new year with them, one more time, before everybody gets too old."

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.