Lunch at work.

What's inside the box?

 If only lunch was like this everyday.
...or maybe the idea that it is "special" makes it taste even better?

Sushi lunch!

This was our lunch for shigoto-osame (仕事納め), or the last day of work for 2011.

Aaaaand a fancy bento lunch.

Similarly, we also had a fantastic lunch on shigoto-hajime (仕事始め) - the first work day of the New Year.

I assume stuff like this might be a common tradition for many workplaces throughout Japan, but I don't actually remember doing this at my old workplace. Then again, I guess I went home during Christmas and New Years for two out of the three years I was in Kamogawa, so even if they did I wasn't actually there for it.

It's a very nice tradition to close out old year and welcome the new year by partaking in a mini-feast like these together with coworkers!