Shopping for fish - Akashi City, Hyogo

The most important holiday in Japan is New Year's. Starting around mid-December, the house, school, workplace are all cleaned. It is a time to purify everything so that a new start can be made with the beginning of the new year.

Toshigami (god of the incoming year) is believed to visit every house, bringing blessings to them for the coming year.

Special foods are part of the celebration, and since the stores are all closed the first three days of the New Year's holiday, people need to purchase and prepare things in advance. One of the most popular fish is the Sea Bream or Red Snapper seen at the right.

Akashi's Uonotana street is where everyone will go to find the specialty foods they desire. See the gallery for more, but here is a small preview:

Fresh Octopus	Dired Octopus	Dried Squid	Fresh Crab
Fresh Fish			Smoked Fish

Even Shimekazari can be purchased to hang on the front door to keep the malevolent spirits away! (Shimekazari are generally made of a rope of straw with dangling white paper strips called shide.) This one also has an orange, which is also considered good luck.

Come now to Akashi's Uonotana street before the stores get too crowded!