Also of interest was something that can only be described as a bowl made from a tree trunk, and two hammers that were made from tree branches. Massive things.
For an idea of scale, the cart is the same length as a large supermarket trolley
In the kitchen would be cooked batches of white rice, which would then be put into circular metal trays, taken outside and put onto the cyndrilical barbecue as shown three pictures up. This would further steam the rice due to the bottom layer being full of water, and after about 20 minutes steaming, the circular cake of rice would be taken out and put into the tree trunk bowl like so;
Then two people would wield the hammers and proceed to knead the rice in an almost drilling motion, until a a chunky paste was formed.
Once the appropriate consistency was formed, one man would lose the hammer for a bowl of water, splashing some of it onto the ricey mass, and the other would smash the rice with the hammer. They would get a rythmn going, the water man sloshing some water on it, turning it quickly with one hand, say 'ey', remove his hand and then the hammer would coming slamming down, with the hammer man exclaiming 'ai!'. One 'beat' of this rythmn would take about two seconds, and I would wince eveytime at the thought of the water man removing his hand too slow one time.
Apologies for it being horizontal, didn't want to flip.
With one batch of mochi paste prepared, it would be removed from the bowl and put on a flour covered board, taken back inside to be cut up and rolled into plain mochi balls, and then flavoured.
There were three varieties, anko, which is a sweet red bean paste that I am rather fond of, shoyu and nori, a sweet soy sauce flavoured mochi which is then wrapped in seaweed, and kinako, a light brown powder made from soy beans. I tried my hand at making some of them, but I think that I was outclassed in every aspect of it by the ladies who taught me, so I went back outside to give the rice abuse a go.
At the end of the rice pounding, 8 batches in total, I asked what the dry weight of the rice used was, and the answer shocked me somewhat-16 kilograms. I don't think my family in NZ eats that much in a year, and three families consume that over a week in the form of mochi. I think I will be sick of mochi by the end of this years New Year celebrations.
Following this we all went inside for afternoon tea/lunch, and thus the mochi consumption began.
So ended the first day of the New Years preparations, and quite easily the most fun (housework is never fun, let's be honest)
But with that, dear reader, this blog post is not over. The above is a mere report of what's been going on, but now comes the inevitable reflection of the year that was.
2011 was a year of mixed feelings for New Zealand, we'd ended 2010 with a massive earthquake in Christchurch , fortunately with noone killed, and suffered one of our worst mining disasters with 29 miners killed at the Pike River Mine.
So we started 2011 hoping for a better year than the disaster 2010 turned into for so many. Unfortunately the start of 2011 was not so, for on February 22, another huge earthquake hit, killing 181 people. The Pike River miners remain in the mine as setback after setback prevents the mine being reopened to recover their remains. Christchurch continues to experience significant aftershocks, causing more damage and impeding the recovery effort. My city, Nelson, was hit by 3 times the average rainfall for December, experiencing significant flooding one two occassions, with slips isolating communities and threatening homes. The container ship Rena grounded on a reef in Tauranga, spilling hundreds of tonnes of oil through the sea.
It was also the year that Japan experienced a triple disaster, the massive earthquake off the coast of Tohoku, the subsequent tsunami that smote up to 20,000 people, and the nuclear disaster at Fukushima that followed. This event, happening a mere week and a half before I was due to leave for a year in Japan, meant that my departure was delayed 5 months and reducing my overall stay to half a year.
The year also saw the overthrowing of many Middle Eastern leaders, the deaths of Gadaffi and Osama bin Laden, and the Occupy Movement.
However, in a lighter tone, this was the year that New Zealand hosted and won the Rugby World Cup, reclaiming our position as the champions of international rugby. It was the year that I came to Japan, despite the setbacks in March, and in the time I've been here I have done so many awesome things, met so many fantastic people, and made a great many friends. It has been a year of learning and success, with my year group graduating from College (High School for you who speak American English), and preparing to embark on the next journey in their lives, university, apprenticeships, the workforce. It was the year that my FPS team competed in the world championships in Wisconsin, USA, coming third in the Senior Drama division. 2011 was for me, a year of travel, fun, happiness, sometimes disappointment, but most of all, it was a year of experiences. I cannot say of any other year of my 19 years on this planet that I have experienced as much as I have this year.
Despite the hardships of 2011, I have certainly enjoyed it, I have travelled throughout Japan, to Okinawa, American in June, meeting many people and having experiences that will remain with me for a lifetime. I have tried many new things, some good, some bad, and become a better person for that. Regardless of whether or not you have travelled as I have or had to live through disasters, natural and man made, I hope that the experiences of 2011 have made you a better person and that 2012 will treat you equally.
The Tops of 2011
Top Experience-Coming to Japan for 6 months, living and breathing everything Japan.
Top Destination-Miyajima, Hiroshima Prefecture. An island I visited on my first trip to Japan two years ago, I returned there in the last week of December and did everything that I did the first time, plus everything that I could not do in 2009.
Top Success-Coming 3rd in the World in FPS Drama. Going to Wisconsin in June to represent NZ was a great experience, and beating hundreds of others with my team in getting 3rd was an awesome way to conclude my 7 years of FPS.
Top Food-Karinto, a Japanese sweet that I discovered this year, the sugary goodness may well be the end of me, but it will be well worth it.
Top Day-Definitely the beach day in Okinawa, I hadn't been to a beach for almost half a year, and to be able to experience the tropical beaches of Okinawa was truly spectacular. Went scuba diving, dragon boating, sunbathing, was an epic day.
Top Place- Mt Mise, the highest mountain on Miyajima, didn't get to go there two years ago, and the views are breathtaking.
Top Event-Yabusame, Japanese Horse Archery, at Hachimangu Temple in Kamakura, October.
Top Song-Night of the Hunter, 30 Seconds to Mars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aSLS2GhyXA
Top Movie-Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Introduced to me in my year 13 Media Studies Class by Mr Campbell, I have lost count of how many times I have watched it now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_RrNCqCIPE
Top Youtube Clip-Dubstep Guns. Done by an independent digital effects studio, they make a lot of awesome videos and put them on Youtube, well worth checking them out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDlif8Km4S4&ob=av3e
Top Word- 'Agepoyo', a word used by 'Garu' a type of overly made up young Japanese women, usually ditzy, it means 'high tension', and basically means to be pumped or excited for something. I used it in my opening and final speech of the year at Tsurumine High School, a word that produced not only massive laughter and applause, but also propelled me to fame. People would not know me by name, but would know me as the 'Agepoyo Boy'. With this word, I have become famous.
So, despite the hardships of 2011, I have managed to have many happy memories, and these 11 are a mere fraction of them.
So I wish you the very best for 2012, may the Year of the Dragon treat you favorably, and I will be back next year with another blog on how New Years Celebrations went.
One last thing however, for the world it is the year 2011 now, and next year is 2012, but in Japan it is also the year 23, and next year will be the year 24. Why is this?
Toroi
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