Anyways! Onto my real post.
Christmas here is more about Christmas Eve and the sales. It's all about the couples and the cake and the ridiculous amount of American and British influence. Most of Japan is enveloped in western culture and everything changes to reflect American culture so much so, that I feel back home when out shopping; on Black Friday that is. I was worried that there was no part of Japan left in the holiday season, despite the fact that I knew there was in the past.
That's when I got the text message from my family a little while back asking me to go out with them to pound mochi. Mochi is basically rice pounded so much and so hard that it turns into goo. It's really squishy and stretchy and tastes horrible alone, which is why they put stuff on it or in it and then it tastes great! I was extremely excited as I knew the pounding of mochi was still a very treasured tradition in Japan, despite the changing times.
So Tuesday morning I rolled out of bed at 7 to be with my host family at 9. I wasn't in a great mood because some of my friends had left for good, having only stayed for a semester. But I didn't let that get to me. I was wrapped up in my very heavy 50s style jacket, had a scarf, gloves, and a beanie on, but I was STILL freezing! We were at a small park near my host family's house. I knew some of the people, like the grandmother, because I had met them previously, so it wasn't long before most of the people present knew my name and knew where I hailed from. I was surprised by how many older people were there at first, but it eventually leveled out to new families with young children, though I never saw any teenagers. I was the old "child" there, if you want to put me in that category.
We did the "Japanese morning stretches" which were really cute and (of course) had a song to go along with it (every thing in Japan has a song associated with it... It works! Everyone remembers everything because of it). I was lost and laughed, but my host mom told me what to do and made sure I was okay. My host dad was taking a bajillion photos of me. He thought it was adorable to see me doing the stretch.
That was when the men brought out this giant wooden bowl, who's name I've forgotten, and the wooden mallets. There were three sizes: kid size, woman's size, man's size. First the men lightly kneaded the rice with the mallets and moved around the bowl to get all sides. A lady on the side was there with constant wet hands to move the rice so that it was always moving, 'lest it got stuck on the sides. Then it was time for the men to swing the mallets to get it nice and mixed. My host dad is a rather large man, so he REALLY nailed that mochi. Then it was time for the kids, but first...they spotted the only American and pulled me into the fray. I was given the woman's mallet and I swung 10 times.
That was when...I became the bee's knees. EVERYONE and their mother (literally) ran up to me and constantly talked to me about America (where I was from, how long I had known Japanese, what America was like, etc.). They were AMAZED when I told them I had only known Japanese for two years and had only been in the country 4 months (my God...it's been 4 months...). My host mom kept telling everyone, "pera pera" which means fluent and I had to violently deny this. I'm nowhere near that level, but then my host mom said, "You're good enough after only two years and 4 months, so stop that". She then dragged me around to ever jii-san (granpa) and baa-chan (granma) in the area and showed me off. It was great. My host dad thought it was hysterical. My host brother and sister were running around with their friends, but my host sister fell and hurt her wrist, so she stuck by my side after that. It was sweet and I ran around and played with her and some of her friends to keep her spirits up. She wanted to pound mochi, but her wrist...
The first batch was eventually ready to eat and all the Japanese people ran up to me with a plate and green tea. They were anxious for me to eat it. The plate had 5 variations of mochi on it. The first three were GREAT, but I hated the last two (almost choked on one) and my host dad laughed seeing my reaction to the last one. He told me most foreigners hate it, but that it was okay because most Japanese hate it too. Right as he said that, my host brother nearly chocked on that same version. Haha!
Then the second batch came around. By this time, everyone knew my name and there were far more people there than before. It was starting to get cold from me sitting too long, so my host parents pulled me over to the new mochi batch. My host mom was now the one with wet hands who moved the mochi. It was cute to see her husband swinging the mallet to pound the mochi and then see her move in to move the mochi. I wish I had taken a picture of that.
That was when the jii-san's moved in on me. They handed me the man mallet saying, "YOU HAVE AMERICAN STRENGTH! DO IT!!!" Almost everyone gathered around and started doing a chant to help me along saying, "GANBATTE AMERICA!" or "YOSH! YOSH! YOSH!" which are both ways of saying, "GOOD LUCK!" and "YOU CAN DO IT!". It was really sweet of them and I was overcome, but I started laughing so hard because they kept calling me America and I just thought that was so great. I did it, like, 20 times before my time was finished. Man my arms hurt today from it...
After all the mochi batches had been made and I had eaten them all, it was time for three students from a university near me to perform some Christmas music. They had bassoons! It was cool because they even explained what a bassoon was. Hell...I had no idea it was from Italy... In any case, it was sweet, but I was FREEZING! So we went home.
After I warmed up under their kotatsu back home, my host family then took me to a hip hop dance show going on. It had their friends in it. It was...eerie to see how much they were like American hip hop dancers... I was really amazed because for awhile, I couldn't even tell they were Japanese and felt right back at home. Then the lights came back on and I remembered where I was. After that, it was off to dinner.
We went to SUSHI! Oh man...I love sushi. I tried some new stuff and found SCALLOPS! And there was a special on crap, so I had some. That and TONS of eel. Love that stuff. My host family was amazed I adored eel. Unfortunately, this dug me my grave as they ordered me tons of eel. I thought I was going to die.
My host parents asked if I see what they call "illumination" back home in America and I told them I used to when I was young. So they drove me around to look at all the lights on the houses. That's when I told them "illumination" isn't something we call this in America, it's something from England. I also told them that the Christmas cakes they adore isn't from America either, it's also from England. My host dad then said, "well if it's from an English speaking country, IT'S FROM AMERICA! No one cares that much about England, except for its flag design. That's fashionable." I thought I was going to die of laughter so I told him, "it's like that in America. If you're Asian, you're Chinese or Japanese, though in California and my area, if you're Asian, you're Japanese." My host dad was having such a fit of laughter.
We went home and I gave them their Christmas gifts to which they gave me theirs. We started watching t.v. and I was glad to know annoying commercials that I see so often in America are VERY common in Japan, though they put forth a lot more effort in making it look pretty and cool. But the anime my little host brother watched was amazingly stupid, so I chatted with my host mother. She told me my Japanese had improved ten fold in the past two months she had known me. I was extremely grateful to her words...
It was then time to go home. I was very sad, but also excited. I had just had one of the best days since getting to Japan. On Sunday I leave for Tokyo, so once my adventure there is over, I'll post about it, but it might come in sections. I won't be back until after New Years, so until then!
The mallets. The biggest is the man's, smallest is the kid's 
The giant bowl the mochi sits and we pound into it 
Some of the people coming in. It would get very crowded later 
My host dad swingin' that mallet away 
This little wooden container is where the mochi is then put to make it all nice and squishy 
BASSOONS! 
TIME TO EAT! 
The chopsticks. My little host brother remembered how I have a black cat and love cats in general and searched for these. I was so touched! 
CHRISTMAS CAKE! My host mom also made me cocoa 
And finally, the illumination I liked the most. A lot of them looked just like from home in the States, so I was always surprised to see them so similar. Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, and I hope everyone has a GREAT New Years! For everyone on my Facebook, keep in touch with me there. I'll be posting more pictures of my time in Tokyo there (especially COMIKET!), so if anyone wants to know how I'm doing until I return, I'll be there. Stay warm everyone!
~星子☆
