close out the year
渋谷の某局の番組を観ながら、年越しそばを食べながら1年を締めくくり来るべき年を迎える人が多いと思います。でも、なんと香川県ではうどんで締めくくるそうです。さすがうどん県！
close outは「締め出す、打ち切りにする」などの意味のほか「（年など）を締めくくる」という意味もあります。わたしも来年のことに思いをめぐらせながら今年をclose outします。（Shou-VR*）
Restaurants in Kagawa busy serving wheat noodle
Restaurants in the city of Takamatsu in Kagawa prefecture, western Japan are busy serving udon noodles made out of wheat for New Year's Eve. People in most prefectures eat buckwheat noodles, or soba, on the last day of the year.
But those in Kagawa have the custom of eating long, thick wheat noodles to wish for good health and a long life. One restaurant in a suburb of Takamatsu says it has prepared noodles for 2,600 visitors. That's 2.5 times the usual number. One woman went with her children and grandchildren.
She says she comes every year to eat wheat noodles on New Year's Eve. A man from the city of Matsuyama says he didn't know about the custom of eating wheat noodles to close out the year, but found it interesting.
