Welcoming the Boar - a Japanese New Year

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Across the Seto-Oohashi

Across the Seto-Oohashi

Mochitsuki

Mochitsuki 2

Anko-mochi

The Inland Sea - from Mt Yashima

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In the Japanese zodiac 2007 is the Year of the Boar (Inoshishi). I spent the New Year with a couple of different friends that I had met the first time I was in Japan, and their families. It had been three years since I had seen one friend and his wife, and five years since I had seen the other friend and her family, but in both cases it was as though it had only been about a month.

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Photos

Marine Liner
Express train running between Okayama (Honshu) and Takamatsu (Shikoku).

Crossing the Seto-Ohashi
The Seto-Ohashi bridge connects Okayama and Kagawa prefectures across five islands in the Inland Sea. It took ten years and cost $7 billion to build, and opened for traffic on April 10 1988. At 13.1 km long, it ranks as the world's longest two-tiered bridge system.

Mochitsuki
In ancient Japan rice was a valuable food used on holidays and special occasions. Nowadays mochi (rice cakes) can be bought all year round, but many families and communities have special mochitsuki (making sweet rice cakes) events near the end of the year.

Mochitsuki
The glutinous rice is first steamed....

Mochitsuki
....then pounded in a stone mortar ('usu') using a wooden mallet ('kine')....

Mochitsuki
...then shaped into round patties and coated in a sweet flour.
The mochi elasticity symbolizes strength and the white color purity. At this stage fillings can be added. At this event we made red bean paste ('anko-mochi'), seaweed ('nori-mochi'), prawn (ebi-mochi) and strawberry ('ichigo-mochi'). Mochi is also often added to soups, or toasted and eated with a mixture of soy sauce and sugar.

Mochitsuki
Nori-mochi

Mochitsuki
Nori-mochi

Mochitsuki
Nori-mochi

Osechi ryori
Osechi ryori is made of special dishes which are prepared leading up to New Year's Eve, and eaten during the first three days of the New Year. It is also available in supermarkets and department stores.

Osechi ryori
If prepared at home the food is packed in a particular way in a tiered, lacquered box called a jubako (literally, 'heavy box').