[AGreatPer]

"Mostly it is eating a lot around the home"

What are the traditional foods eaten around the holidays?
I actually saw on tv live fish in a tank being sold in one of their WalMarts.

[AmericanInTokyo]

It is called "osechi ryori" and it actually looks and tastes something like this. Each piece of New Years Day food has a specific meaning, of they are plays on words, i.e. the Japanese word for the food is also a word for some element of "good luck". Some of these elements of meals take 2 or 3 hours to prepare with a lot of love. They start January 1st this way in most homes. Not to mention hitting the Gekkeikan sake bottle pretty heavily.