Mochi is a traditional part of the Japanese New Year’s celebration. These pounded rice cakes mean that fresh rice doesn’t have to be made that day because on New Year’s Day, no one should be working. Whatever you’re doing on New Year’s is what you’ll be doing the rest of the year.

Mochi is also a homophone. Chikara-mochi means to have strength. O-kane-mochi means to have money or be wealthy.

New Year’s is a big to-do in Japan and if you want to have mochi or sample some transplanted traditions Little Tokyo and the Mitsuwa in Torrance are sponsoring some activities.

According to Mitsuwa’s PR literature, mochi-mochi, a Japanese term used to describe chubby baby cheeks, soft, smooth, and pillowy just perfect for pinching! But freshly handmade mochi, Japanese rice cakes, are actually even softer and smoother than baby cheeks. Mitsuwa Marketplace  at its New Year Festival on January 1st, 2013, is providing a rare chance to see how Japanese artisans pound rice into sticky, smooth mochi.  The performance will start at 10:30 AM and the freshly pounded mochi will be offered to customers in oshiruko (sweet red-bean soup) to taste for free.

Sweet rice is first steamed in a basket steamer, and immediately after it is placed into a traditional mortar, two people keep pounding it with a giant heavy mallet until the rice grains become sticky and smooth. One person pounds and the other wets and flips the mass. What Japanese call, “wa”, the harmony of the two pounders has significant importance to keep a steady pounding rhythm.

When you get the chance to snap up the freshly pounded mochi, made by two pounders’ collaboration, the softness and the natural sweetness of the rice will delight your senses and make you rethink any store bought mochi you may have had in the past.

Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance has plenty in store for the New Years festivities and in addition to this mochi pounding performance, they will be holding lion dance and taiko drumming performances and selling “lucky bags.” which are stuffed with various discounted goodies.

In Little Tokyo you’ll have to wait until 6 January 2013 to celebrate at the Japanese American National Museum. Admission is free all day. JANM is located at 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles California 90012, phone: (213) 625-0414 .

From 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. you can made a decorate wreath of all the zodiac animals, learn to fold a snake out of origami, watch taiko drummers making mochi and get a lucky bag on sale at the gift shop. Reptacular Animals will have animals for you to encounter. You can even enter an onigiri contest.

The mochi-tsuki will be provided by Kodama Taiko. Kodama is well known for their unique Mochitsuki (rice cake pounding) performance which combines the age-old tradition of hand-pounding mochi (sweet rice) with the sounds of taiko. This energetic custom is typically performed during the Japanese New Year’s, but has lately been expanded to include any celebratory occasion. Makoto Fujii of the Japan based group Medetaya instructed Kodama in combining the art of taiko and Mochitsuki.

For those with a sweet tooth, Shaun Ichiyanagi will be demonstrating the ancient Asian folk art of candy sculpting.

You don’t have to bring your onigiri from home, but you’ll only have 10 minutes to create your masterpiece. The contest is sponsored by Common Grains, a Japanese food and culture project to promote and celebrate Japanese grains, featuring rice and soba (buckwheat) produced by Shinmei, leading Japanese rice miller with local food writer/cooking teacher Sonoko Sakai.

Onigiri Contest
Each contestant is given one cup of cooked rice to make onigiri. We will show you how to make onigiri and provide you with ingredients to decorate the onigiri. No other ingredients and tools other than what we provide you with can be used in the contest.

If you are participating in the contest as a family, only one adult and one child can participate in each section.

Time: 10 minutes is allowed for each contestant.

How to enter: Sign up and enter on the day of the festival.

The Jury will consist of Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW’s Good Food, Betty Hallock, Los Angeles Times food writer, Naoko Moore, Japanese cooking instructor of Toiro Kitchen, Josh Lurie, Food GPS blogger, and Roxana Jullapat and Daniel Mattern of Cooks County.

Six winners!

Children’s section: (must be 13 and under)
1 Kawaii onigiri prize
1 Happy onigiri prize
1 Original onigiri prize

Adult Section:
1 Humorous onigiri prize
1 Original onigiri prize
1 Cool onigiri prize

About:

The schedule is as follows:

11:30  a.m.-1:30 p.m. : Taste and purchase different varieties of rice. Sponsored by Common Grains.

12-3 p.m. : Omikuji (sacred lottery) will let you know what kind of year you’ll be having!

12-5 p.m. : Watch world-renowned candy artist Shaun Ichiyanagi make snake sculpture candy!(For children only. Candy snakes will be raffled off at the start of every hour.)

1-3 p.m. : Reptacular Animals presents a Reptile Petting Zoo! Come meet real snakes and other cool reptiles!

1-3 p.m. : Learn how to make onigiri rice balls in our Onigiri Contest. Sponsored by Common Grains.

1-4 p.m. : Party Faces will paint your face like your favorite zodiac animal!

1-5 p.m. : Start a lucky new year by making and eating zaru soba (buckwheat) noodles with Kidding Around the Kitchen.

2&3:30 p.m. : Learn how to play Japanese taiko drums with Bombu Taiko!

2:30&4 p.m. : Mochitsuki (traditional rice cake pound ceremony) performance and demonstration by Kodama Taiko.

3:30 p.m. : Winners for the Onigiri Contest will be announced.

 

In Japan, New Year’s isn’t a one day event, so make it a three-day, full week or full month event. Get your mochi, but don’t forget to have a vacuum handy.