Recap Blog 1: A Very Japanese New Year

So with all the rushing around as we got settled at the beginning of this year, I got a little bit behind on blogging.  I'd like to catch you all up on what's happened in Hilo since I left off, but I'd also like to write it in chunks that are a manageable size to read.  Therefore I've decided to write a blog covering each week that I've been in Hilo, and post one each day for the next week.  Hopefully this will get everybody (including me) caught up and I will keep on top of my blog from now on.

Without further ado, here is the week after Christmas' blog:

I have mentioned before that one reason Cru decided to relocate us to Hilo is that it is a good training spot for Japanese culture because there is a high population of Japanese-Americans here.  We’ve seen this frequently already.  Many of the restaurants nearby offer a menu in Japanese as well as English.  The Inn we stayed at in our first week was located directly above a shop that sold bento, a Japanese-style boxed lunch.  You can actually get bento every day at the UH Hilo cafeteria.

It was fitting that our New Year’s celebration should be Japanese as well.  On New Year’s Eve, we drove to a nearby town that was hosting a Japanese mochi-pounding for the New Year.  It was held at a Buddhist bed and breakfast that was run by a Japanese woman who had moved to Hawaii decades ago.  Mochi is a glutinous rice cake from Japan.  Mochi is made of a special kind of sticky rice, which is steamed, then put into a large pestle.  Two people work the job of pounding the mochi.  One person pounds the rice with a heavy mallet, and the other wets the sticky rice and turns it after each strike with the mallet, to keep the forming mochi consistent throughout.   Eventually the rice is pounded into a uniform, sticky and elastic mass, which is cut into cubes or wrapped around red bean paste.   A more Americanized version of mochi that’s served in Hilo will sometimes have a mini peanut butter cup inside.

Making mochi is a New Year’s Tradition in Japan, and Kylan, Amanda, Katie, Albert and I each got to take a turn hammering the sticky rice that morning.  There were other traditional Japanese arts at the bed and breakfast as well.  Calligraphy and Japanese paintings were for sale.  Taiko drummers performed thunderous pieces on their big drums, playing a piece that imitated the waves crashing against the shores of Okinawa.  Two men performed a traditional Lion-Dog dance, also originating from the island of Okinawa.

Pounding Mochi!

We were all impressed and had a good time, but I think most of all it gave me a chance to connect with the culture I was missing.  It helped me remember Japan, but not in a way that made me homesick for Tokyo.  It gave me encouragement that I could stay connected to Japan, even while living in Hawaii.  Not only that, but it helped connect me to Hawaii’s culture in a way that I could understand.  After New Year’s, I felt a greater connection with Hilo and an increased desire to know and care for the people who live here.

Here’s a picture of me pounding mochi and a picture of the lion-dog.  Hopefully this’ll help you catch a heart for Hawaii and Japan, like it did for me.