Osechi 2025

 

Osechi 2025

Osechi 2025: Starting the Year Right

January 1st. The water at Carson Beach is 38°F.

I'm standing at the edge. Breath visible. Heart already racing before I even touch the water.

This is how I start every year. Cold plunge. Ocean. Reset.

I walk in. The cold hits like electricity. Shoulders. Chest. WHOA. My nervous system wakes up. Everything sharpens. I walk out, skin burning-cold, mind absolutely clear.

New year. New intentions. Let's go.

By 11 AM, the house smells like dashi and soy sauce.

Osechi is ready.

Traditional Japanese New Year's food - each dish carrying meaning, each flavor representing something we want in the coming year. It's not just food. It's ceremony. It's gratitude. It's hope.

The jubako boxes are stacked and filled. Kuromame - black beans simmered until they're glossy and sweet, representing health and hard work. Kazunoko - herring roe for fertility and prosperity. Renkon - lotus root with those perfect holes, symbolizing a clear view of the future. Gomame - tiny dried sardines glazed with soy and mirin, wishing for a bountiful harvest.

There's namasu - the bright orange and white pickled daikon and carrot. Ebi - shrimp with their curved backs, hoping we all live long enough to bend like that with age.

And sashimi. Always sashimi. Tuna. Salmon. Ikura glistening like jewels. Tai - sea bream - because its name sounds like "medetai" (auspicious).

The table is set. Lacquered boxes. Small plates. Ozouni soup steaming in red bowls. My family gathers.

We eat slowly. We taste each dish. We talk about what we're grateful for. What we hope for.

This is the opposite of the cold plunge. That was shock, intensity, activation. This is warmth, intention, connection.

Both matter. Both set the tone.

Osechi takes time. The cold plunge takes courage. But this is how I want to start every year - pushing my body, honoring tradition, gathering with the people who matter.

2025, let's see what you've got.

What are YOUR New Year traditions? How do you mark the transition?

My kakizome for 2025 is ‘志’ (kokorozashi)

a word that transcends ambition and speaks to the soul’s enduring purpose. ‘Kakizome’ marks the first calligraphy of the year, and this word encapsulates my vision for the future.

This October, I will share my kokorozashi at Hololife Summit in Tokyo. As a practitioner of HOLOLIFE, I strive to master both self-optimization and self-actualization, embodying the balance between individual excellence and collective good.

Hololife Center suggests that the future of humanity lies in this balance, where dreams from the heart evolve into kokorozashi of the soul, creating a lasting impact. The Biohacker Summit in Tokyo was once my dream, but to turn dreams into meaningful purpose, they must transcend the self.

Soul makes kokorozashi. Here’s to 2025—guided by purpose, driven by the soul. See you in Estonia and Tokyo in this year.

Kion Coffee
 
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