Still there remain many occasions on which the Tokyo cit may take his pleasure at home and abroad. The first of these, the New Year’s Day, presents the gayest appearance everywhere and is a day of general rejoicing. On either side of the gate or front door at every house stands a large pine branch supported by an unstripped bamboo-pole or two, and overhead flies the national flag. On the cross-beam of the gate or over the porch hangs a coil of sacred rope, to which are attached a piece of fern, a lobster, a bit of _konbu_ (_laminaria_), and an orange. Indoors too, a piece of rope with a frond of fern is suspended in different rooms. In the morning when the family gather for breakfast, a set of three wooden goblets are brought on a stand, and the members of the household wish one another a happy New Year and drink spiced _mirin_ with one of the goblets in the order of their position in the family; and instead of the usual boiled rice, they eat cakes of pounded rice roasted and boiled in a soup of greens. This drinking of _mirin_ and eating of rice-cakes is repeated on the two mornings following. On the New Year’s Day people go out to present the New Year’s greetings to their friends and relatives. This custom is now less observed than formerly; for in these days they greet one another by post, and millions of postcards pass through the Tokyo post offices in the beginning of the year. On the New Year’s Day larger shops are closed, as well as offices, public and private. The streets are gay with the New Year’s decorations and with people going to and fro for the New Year’s greetings; while in streets of shops and small houses young men and women and children may be seen playing at battledore and shuttlecock in the open road to the great obstruction of the thoroughfare, the fun of the game being that those who miss a shuttlecock have their faces smeared with Indian ink or white paint. [Illustration: THE TREASURE-SHIP.] [Illustration: THE NEW YEAR’S DECORATIONS.] On the second, larger shops send out the first loads of goods for the year in handcarts. These carts are adorned with flags bearing the names of the firms, and the shops pride themselves upon the number of such loads they can send out on this day. In the evening hawkers come with pictures of a treasure-ship with the seven deities of fortune on board; over the picture is written an ode of thirty-one syllables which is remarkable for being a palindrome. It runs thus:— _Na ka ki yo no to o no ne fu ri no mi na me za me na mi no ri fu ne no o to no yo ki ka na._