I have been eating soba every year with my children since I moved here. I like to follow the culture, and it has great meaning in my life each year. It is my way of showing gratitude and hoping for the following year.
Why Japanese People Eat Soba on New Year's Eve and Visit Temples
On 31st December, something shifts in Japan. As the year comes to an end, Japanese families gather to eat toshikoshi soba - long buckwheat noodles - and then many make their way to temples to pray and chant as midnight approaches. To outsiders, these might seem like separate traditions. But they are deeply connected, and they reveal how Japanese people understand time, life, and renewal.
Toshikoshi Soba - Crossing the Year with Noodles
The name itself tells you everything: toshikoshi means "crossing the year" and soba means buckwheat noodles.
On New Year's Eve, families eat these long noodles together. Why noodles? Because they are long. And in Japanese culture, long noodles symbolise longevity and continuation. When you eat toshikoshi soba, you are eating a wish for a long life. You are eating the hope that the good things from the year you are leaving will continue into the new year.
But there is more to it than symbolism. The act itself is important. By eating these noodles together as a family on the last night of the year, you are acknowledging the transition. You are marking the moment. You are saying: this year is ending. We are together. We are grateful. And we are ready to welcome what comes next.
The noodles are easy to eat and easy to digest - practical, simple, humble. This reflects Japanese values. You do not need elaborate food to mark a significant moment. You need intention and presence.
The Temple Visit - Greeting the New Year
After eating soba, many Japanese people visit temples and shrines, particularly around midnight. This is called hatsumode - the "first shrine visit" of the new year.
Walking through the torii gates (the distinctive red gates that mark sacred space), people ring bells, offer coins, and bow to the kami. Some chant. Some pray silently. Some simply stand in the sacred space and acknowledge the moment of transition from one year to the next.
The temples are crowded with people. Families, young people, and elderly people all gathered together in the cold night air. There is a sense of shared purpose, of community. You are not alone in this transition - you are part of something larger than yourself.
What This Means Spiritually
These traditions express something fundamental about Japanese philosophy and how Japanese people understand life.
First, they acknowledge that time is not continuous and unchanging. Each year is different. Each year deserves recognition and respect. By eating soba and visiting temples specifically on New Year's Eve, you are honouring the boundary between what was and what will be.
Second, they express gratitude. Before you move into the new year, you pause to acknowledge the year that is ending. You thank the kami for protection, for sustenance, for the moments - good and difficult - that brought you to this point. This is not dwelling on the past. It is respectfully closing one chapter so you can open the next.
Third, they set intention. When you visit a temple on New Year's Eve, you are not just celebrating. You are offering prayers and hopes for the year ahead. You are telling the kami what matters to you. You are consciously beginning the new year with purpose, not drifting into it randomly.
Fourth, they connect you to something sacred and larger than yourself. Shinto philosophy teaches that kami exists everywhere - in nature, in people, in time itself. By marking the transition with ritual, you are acknowledging this sacred dimension of life. You are recognising that new beginnings are not just practical matters - they are spiritual ones.
Community and Continuity
What is striking about these traditions is that they are communal. Families eat soba together. Hundreds or thousands of people visit temples at the same time. You are not marking this transition alone - you are part of a vast community all doing the same thing.
This reflects another Japanese value: that important moments are meant to be shared. Your new year is not just your personal fresh start - it is part of the collective rhythm of Japanese life. Everyone is transitioning together. Everyone is hoping together. Everyone is beginning together.
The Deeper Meaning
When you understand why Japanese people eat soba and visit temples on New Year's Eve, you understand something about Japanese culture itself.
It is a culture that respects transitions. That honours the past whilst moving forward. That finds meaning in ritual and symbolism. That values community over isolation. That sees the sacred in everyday moments.
Eating long noodles is not just about wishing for a long life - it is about consciously crossing from one year to the next with awareness and gratitude.
Visiting a temple and chanting is not just about praying for good fortune - it is about standing in sacred space with others, acknowledging that life is precious, and setting your intention for what is to come.
In Your Own Life
You do not need to be Japanese to understand the value of these practices. The idea of marking transitions consciously, of expressing gratitude for what has passed, of setting intention for what is ahead - these are universal.
When you eat soba on New Year's Eve with people you care about, you are participating in something ancient and meaningful. When you pause at the moment the year changes to acknowledge what you are grateful for and what you hope for, you are living in alignment with Japanese philosophy.
These are not superstitious acts. They are conscious, intentional ways of living. And they work because they bring your full attention to what matters - the passage of time, the people around you, and the sacred opportunity of beginning again.
