餅 = もち = Mochi

yes...this was a little unexpected: I had signed up to help for this event a long time ago and i had forgotten since...all of the sudden i found myself holding a big wooden hammer, repeatedly smashing rice, turning it into what is called mochi; a sort of rice paste, sticky cake looking food...


We smashed the rice until our arms turned into rice...one after the other...


Why did we make Mochi on that particular day?
Apparently there are many traffic accidents in Japan, so the police created this event to promote "safe" driving. In Japanese they say "anzen o MOCHI kaeri" which has the same pronunciation with the food Mochi, so they make a lot of Mochi, so people can take it home, which also means to take "safety" home.


we rolled them up in balls and ate them, adding a little sauce...hot or sweet, as you like! sometime they even put different things in them...kinder surprise!

and of course...as always, a group picture...yay.