soup containing rice cakes and vegetables (New Year's dish)
New Year's sake; spiced sake
challenge; defiance; dare; attempt; try
to act as one; to act in concert; to keep pace; to stay in step
piercing (cold); biting (wind)
New Year's Eve; end of the year
auspicious day; good day; lucky day; beautiful day
blood relationship; consanguinity; blood relative
visit to a shrine or temple; paying homage at a shrine or temple
to rule; to govern; (arch.) to see; (arch.) to look; (arch.) to watch
peremptorily; willy-nilly; forcibly
smooth (skin, etc.); sleek; velvety; silky
disturbance; trouble; ups and downs
inheritance; something given or received
brilliance; splendour; splendor; lustre; luster
soba noodles eaten at night on New Year's Eve
temple bell rung 108 times on New Year's Eve
eggplant (Solanum melongena); aubergine
Mount Fuji; Mt. Fuji; Fujiyama; Fuji-san
(one's) sleeping hours; hours of sleep
best is Fuji, second is a hawk, third is an eggplant (of auspicious things to see in a dream, esp. one's first dream of the year)
auspicious dream; well-boding dream
contest (between performers); competitive performance; competition between theatres putting on the same show
rakugo; traditional Japanese comic storytelling; comic story (told by a professional storyteller)
granny; grandma; gran; old lady; old woman
omen; sign of luck; origin; history; dependent arising; doctrine that everything has a cause and there is nothing that arises out of nothing
living room (Japanese-style)
staying up late; keeping late hours; sitting up late at night; nighthawk
staying at home during the New Year's holiday
special; auspicious; happy; naive; innocent; good-natured
to be prolonged; to drag on
midway; halfway through; in the course of
gas stove; gas cooker; gas range
full operation (e.g. factory, machine, reactor); full strength; full speed
entirely useless; completely worthless; no no; don't!
wearing thick clothes; dressing warmly
to put to bed; to lay down lengthwise; to put a thing on its side; to set something aside unused; to let lie idle; to ferment