mochi (rice) pounding

The Japanese ward invited us to do mochi pounding with them. It is a japanese tradition to do this for the new year. They steam the rice first to get it soft then they stick it in the wood bucket and you start pounding. You have to be careful not to hit the side so slivers don't go into the rice. Pounding the rice is not very easy to do. Your arms get very tired, which I did not imagine would happen.

I am getting my picture taken with Mariko and her son. Mariko goes to the english class I teach on thursday nights. You can't really see too much, but to the right is our church. There is parking under it, which is quite nice. They also had hot dogs on a stick. I did not try one, but I heard they were really good. I was too full from all of the other food they had.