In much the same way that Christmas has many traditional decorations, Japanese New Year’s (celebrated on Januray 1st) has its own share of traditional decorations. Brickshelf user izzo presents several representative LEGO creations based on these decorations:
First up, a traditional wreath made from pine boughs, paper, rope, and a mandarin orange, or mikan. These wreaths appear on or above doors, and even on the front of cars, trucks, busses, and other vehicles:
Next, a kadomatsu, which are placed on both sides of a doorway or gate. Kadomatsu are made from three bamboo stalks cut at an angle, pine boughs, plum branches, and other elements:
Next, a kagamimochi, which homeowners place in their decorative alcove, or tokonoma. Kagamimochi are a pair of stacked rice cakes, together with some small pine boughs and a mikan:
Finally — and this is by far my personal favorite — izzo presents a lion dancer with a fantastic mask:
izzo also has a home page.
If you’d like to learn more about New Year’s day in Japan, Wikipedia has a reasonably good article. Google also works.