Get Ready for the New Year

I have a theory that Japanese New Year food tastes much better if you have to suffer to get it, like wine that is better if you pay more for it.  Why else would they stand in 4 hour department store lines or face the crowds I faced yesterday just to get food that could easily be gotten by waiting at home for it to be delivered, or gotten from the local grocery.

Stolen sweets are not sweeter, suffered for is better in Tokyo.