Japanese people eat special dishes called osechi ryouri during shogatsu. Osechi ryouri is packed in a Jubako box, which has several layers. The foods are colorful and artistically presented. Each dish has a particular meaning. For example, prawns for long life, kuromame (cooked sweet black beans) for health, kazunoko (herring roe) for fertility,tazukuri (teriyaki taste small sardines) for a good harvest, kurikinton (sweet chestnuts and mashe sweet potato) for happiness, and more. It is also traditional to eat mochi (rice cake) dishes on New Year's Days. I wrote more about mochi in my feature about Japanese New Year's Eve. Zouni (rice cake soup) is the most popular mochi dish at this time. The ingredients vary depending on  regions and families. If you are lucky, you can taste many different zouni. People, zouni is usually soy-sauce based with pieces of chicken, chinese cabbage, carrot, green onion, and daikon radishes.