One of the traditions of the Oomisoka (大晦日: last day of the year) is to eat toshikoshi soba (年越し蕎麦: year-passing soba). It is believed that eating soba noodles, which are very long, is good to have a long life. Morevover eating toshikoshi soba brings good luck and good health for the year that is beginning.
Happy New Year 2014! Shinnen Akemashite Omedetou! 新年あけましておめでとう!
Other Japanese year-end and new year traditions:
KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the American restaurant chain specialized in fried chicken has many outlets here in Japan. In Christmas Eve in many KFCs in Japan there are large lines of people waiting to buy fried chicken.
According to the KFC website the tradition of eating fried chicken in Christmas Eve started in the 70s. A foreigner went into a KFC in Aoyama in Tokyo and said that he had no other option but to eat chicken for Christmas Eve because it was impossible to find turkey in Tokyo. One of the employees of the restaurant saw an opportunity in the comment and decided to tell his supervisors that maybe it would be a good idea to promote chicken in Christmas as a substitute for turkey. The idea caught on and in 1974 KFC launched an advertising campaign with the slogan クリスマスにはケンタッキー! (In Christmas Kentucky!). Since then, KFC has been promoting chicken every Christmas until it has become almost a synonym of Christmas Eve dinner.
Coronel Sanders dressed up as Santa Claus.
Other businesses, like for example convenience stores and supermarkets, also have special offers for chicken in Christmas.
Ayase Haruka is one of the actresses that appears in the Christmas advertising campaigns of KFC.
At an auction in Sapporo two yubari melons were sold for 1,6 million yen ($15,700 USD / €12,200 EUR). Yubari melons are one of the favourite melon types of the Japanese people.
The two melons auctioned together weight 3.6 Kg (8 lb).