Making mochi tradition stick

Fong making takoyaki during the Mochitsuki celebration.

JAPANESE families residing in Ipoh came together for an important traditional event – making mochi (glutinous rice cakes).

Known as Mochitsuki (the pounding of mochi), this is an annual event in many Japanese households and communities that’s usually held in December.

Traditionally, the activity is usually performed during the rice harvesting period.

Making mochi involves pounding rice into soft, supple dough that will be later enjoyed in both sweet and savoury dishes throughout the holiday season right up to the New Year.

At Shen Jai High School in Ipoh, the Japanese community as well as locals took part in pounding steamed glutinous rice into a paste using the usu and kine (large wooden mortar and a wooden mallet).

The process begins with two people pounding the glutinous rice with a mallet, and when it gets sticky enough, it’s flipped, doused in water and hammered further.

Two pounders alternate their duties, whereby one person pounds the dough once while the other person quickly kneads in between the hits.

The action continues until the perfect texture is reached.

It’s then cut into bite-sized portions to be eaten with different flavoured pastes.

There were also many food stalls serving other authentic Japanese food at the event.

There were also booths for face painting, selling cotton candy, and a game booth to retrieve balloons from a tub filled with water, using paper clips.

The event was launched by the deputy consul-general of Japan in Penang Inui Hiroyuki.

Hiroyuki said he was happy to see the tradition being continued by the community living far away from Japan.

“Japanese kids these days would probably just buy frozen mochi sold in supermarkets, and the authentic mochitsuki is only observed in traditional villages in Japan.

“This celebration also provides an insight on our tradition and culture to the locals,” he said.

Japan Club Ipoh president Hiroshi Hizawa said the event, held for 15 years now, also received support from the Perak Malaysian-Japanese Friendship Society.

He said being far away from home, the club was ensuring that the tradition would be kept alive.

“Otherwise, the younger generation will not be able to experience and learn about it when they are no longer staying in Japan.

“We also want to introduce our culture to the locals here, so that they can be a part of the celebration as well.

“I see a lot of happy faces here,” he said, adding that the club has some 180 members.

The society’s spokesperson Fong Foong Beng described the event as an interesting and vibrant celebration.

Fong, who speaks Japanese, was seen busy making takoyaki (octopus balls).

She said besides the mochi, there were other interesting Japanese food to try.

“The takoyaki for instance is delicious, and there is the yaki soba (fried noodles), and apples dipped in sweet sauce,” Fong said.

She was also part of a team demonstrating aikido (a Japanese martial arts).

Wong Lai Ching, 45, who is married to a Japanese citizen, was also spotted at the event with her two daughters, dressed in a yukata (summer kimono).

Wong said she came for the event with her daughters Emi Yamamoto, 22 and Nami, 16. Her oldest daughter Yumi works abroad. Also with them was Emi’s friend, Chong Kar Fee, 21.

Emi said she was able to speak a few languages being of mixed parentage.

“My grandparents speak Mandarin and Cantonese, my father speaks to us in Japanese, then we speak English to our friends, and of course, we know Bahasa Malaysia as well.

“Since we were young, our parents brought us to experience Chinese and Japanese cultural activities,” she said.

K. Prathiba, nine, who was with her parents at the event, said she really enjoyed eating the candied apple, which is dipped in a sweet sauce.

“I have never eaten an apple that way, so it is definitely a new experience for me.”