I'm still in Happy New Year mode :) because I'm very happy that last year ended. I should have actually introduced this photo in the first posting this year.
On New Year's Eve we traditionally eat Soba noodles, with their 'long and thin' shapes signifying longevity. Another theory is that goldsmiths in olden days used to use buckwheat dough to collect gold dust as part of their end-of-the-year cleaning, and this came to a belief that it's a good financial omen for the coming year. Either way, it's bad luck not eating them on that day.
We then eat from these 'bento' boxes for about three days from the 1st of January. There are a lot of stories about it, but I would like to believe that people prepared everything in advance so that they don't make noise cooking and clanking pots and pans during the first three days when our Shinto (not so much a religion but just a disorganised Japanese paganism) divine spirits are with us. It conveniently suits housewives as they can chill out for at least three days.
Each dish in the box signifies something like joy, longevity, auspiciousness, and health. My poor mum had been slaving away for the last whatever years cooking each item before the new year's day. All Japanese housewives do. My sister-in-law slaved over a cooker until early hours last year. For the first time this year my mum, age 79, decided to buy the boxes from a department store. They were of a superb quality, and my mum greeted the new year without any stress :)