New Year in Japan is a time for family celebration. Traditional foods are enjoyed, including a dish called “ozoni” that is made by adding mochi (rice dumplings made from steamed and pressed sticky rice) to a vegetable or meat broth. There are many different varieties of Ozoni based on the geographical region. For instance, the mochi that is used is typically square in eastern Japan, and round in western Japan. The flavor of the broth also varies by region, with one flavor being shoyu (soy sauce) and another being miso (soybean paste). There are so many different kinds of ozoni - in fact, one way of a way of finding out where a person is originally from would be to ask what kind of ozoni they enjoyed as a child.

Two regions of Japan, however, are noteworthy: Hokkaido and Okinawa. Hokkaido is the home of immigrants who came to the northerly island from throughout Japan during the Meiji Era (1868-1911). Because of this background, it is one place where you can find a wide variety of ozoni styles in one single region. Okinawa, Japan’s sub-tropical island chain in the south, flourished in the past as the independent Ryukyu kingdom. The island chain does not have an ozoni tradition.