Mochitsuki videos

 

Happy New Year!

New Years is a very important Holiday in Japan.  It begins right after Christmas and goes on for at least a week.  I understand that in Japanese households, they do a large cleaning of their homes around Christmas for several days, then they cook for at least a day, and then they enjoy New Year's shopping.

We began to notice arrangements like this one all over town.  Theyt always included bamboo, evergreens, and circular arrangements of rope. 

In the mall near our house, they had traditional entertainments.  These women are playing the "koto."

  The one in the back is playing a "shamisen."

 

Because workers were on vacation all week, our office was closed.  We had time to go see some things.  We visited the Tokyo National Museum and saw many interesting things including a mummy and some interesting armor.  There was a lot we didn't get to see yet.

Shopping is an important part of their New Year's celebration.  We visited this street with lots of little shops.  It was crowded with lots of people.

 An American woman was baptized in our ward.  There is always a special feeling at a baptism.  (Unfortunately the hot water was not working that day, so she had to brave the cold water.)

Monday, January 14, was "Seijin no Hi" or a special day for people who are turning 20.  That is the official age of becoming an adult.  We were invited to a party called "Mochi Ttsuki" - making mochi.  It was a long train ride from our home and then we walked another distance. 

 It began to snow on our way and snowed all day. Snow is very unusual in Tokyo so the children were having fun playing in it.  There were lots of problems with transportation.  Our train home stopped for about 30 minutes while they cleared snow off the tracks. 

Making mochi is done by cooking rice, then kneading it in a large wooden bowl with medium sized mallets, then pounding it with a large wooden mallet. This is all done to a rhythm. Since one person has to reach in and turn the dough between each blow of the mallet, the rhythm is quiet important. I kept hoping no one got their hand hit. Here is Clair taking a whack at it and another man turning the dough..

 

Meanwhile, the women shape the very sticky, chewy mass into small balls.  Some are wrapped around balls of sweet read bean paste, others are mixed with "natto" or put into soup.  Some are rolled in flavored powder.

Above you will see "natto."  Natto is made by fermenting soy beans for about a month.  It is considered very tasty by most Japanese.  They mixed the natto with "kim chi" (very spicy) or chestnuts and balls of mochi.

Pictures above are bowls of seaweed and pressed fish cakes (Kamaboko).  Over these they pour a broth and make a very good soup.

 Here are the four couples of "seniors", our missionary sister, some members of the ward, and a family from Peru.  We all had a wonderful time and learned a lot of Japanese customs

December ends....

I have been struggling to add photos to this blog for a couple of weeks.  It was so easy last time! It doesn't help when the directions come up in Japanese! My apologies!

We visited the Tokyo Edo Museum.  (Thanks to those who told me how to spell "Tokyo.")
This was a display about the Japanese drama style, "Kabuki."  We hope to see a "Kabuki" play sometime.

We learned about the Tokyo area during the time of the Shogunates (1601-1868) and the Meiji period (1868 to 1912)  There was a little about the Bombing of Tokyo and these hot-air balloons they used to send bombs to the US when they were running out of fuel.  (I had never heard about this before.)

Our museum guide with us.  It was nice to hear about the history in English!

Christmas Even in our apartment with some of our friends. 
Left is Christmas morning.  We even had a few gifts to open!

 

We visited the Meiji Shrine.  A Shrine is a Shinto structure.  They always have these large "Torii" or gates.  Part of the New Year's celebration is to go to the Shrine on New Year's Eve and help ring the bell 108 times.  Each of those times is to help remove one of the 108 human weaknesses we all have.  The next day (New Year's Day), people go to the Shrine to pray the first prayer of the new year.  A Shinto Shrine
is less ornate and has more muted colors than a Buddhist Temple. 

When they arrive at the place to pray, they bow twice, then clap twice (to get the Gods’ attention), then bow again.

This cute little girl had on her traditional kimono with the obi tied in the back.  She let me take a picture with her.