Japanese festivals
),
simmered burdock root (, kinpira gobo?), and sweetened black soybeans (, kuromame?).
Many of these dishes are sweet, sour, or dried, so they can keep without refrigeration--the
culinary traditions date to a time before households had refrigerators, when most stores closed
for the holidays. There are many variations of osechi, and some foods eaten in one region are
not eaten in other places (or are even banned) on New Year's Day. Another popular dish is
ozni (?), a soup with omochi (?) and other ingredients that differ based on various
regions of Japan. Today, sashimi and sushi are often eaten, as well as non-Japanese foods. To
let the overworked stomach rest, seven-herb rice soup (, nanakusa-gayu?) is prepared on
the seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu (?).
Bell ringing
At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a 108 times to
annaabi.ee 
