Noodle soup ties me to Japanese New Year, and my roots – plus the recipe Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Every year my mother would make a bowl of Japanese New Year’s Eve noodles for my American father and me. “Just this one tradition,” she would entreat; she didn’t like American New Year, and longed for Japanese-style festivities. One year, I found one of my noodles tied in a knot, which she assured me was a sign of good fortune. I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t even really like noodles.
It was not until I was in my 20s that I experienced a full winter holiday in Japan. On New Year’s Eve, my family went to visit friends in Handa, my mother’s home town about 350km west of Tokyo. We counted down the hours with sake and sushi and then, close to midnight, went to the local shrine.