おとそきぶん

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　妻：あなた、年賀状の返事書いて頂けます？
　夫：いや、夜にしてお屠蘇気分の抜けない内に年始まわりしてくるよ。

O-Toso Kibun
Tsuma: Anata, nenga-jo no henji kaite itadakemasu?
Otto: Iya, yoru ni shite, o-toso kibun no nukenai uchi ni, nenshi-mawari shite kuru yo.

Wife: Would you mind writing the replies to the New Year cards for me?
Husband: Not now, let's do it this evening. I'm going to make my New Year calls before the mood wears off.

The Japanese New Year begins on the eve of December 31 (Oo Misoka) with people eating toshikoshi no soba (New Year's Eve Soba) and listening to the joya no kane, (the bell struck to ring in the New Year) at temples (or on television). On January 1, people go to perform hatsu-moode, their first (and often last) visit of the year to a shrine, and eat special food called "o-sechi ryoori".
Some housewives spend days preparing it; others buy it at department stores. People also look forward to reading their New Year cards from friends and relatives.
O-toso is the spiced sake, drunk at New Year, which is supposed to promote youth and happiness and o-toso kibun is the (New Year) mood people get into, probably after having overindulged in o-toso.
The custom of o-nenshi usually takes place on January 2 when people visit those to whom they are obligated in some way, like superiors at work, professors, even marriage go-betweens. At such times the crowd of visitors can be so great that housewives may spend most of the day busy in the kitchen.