Kanazawa Day 3: Making mochi

The third day of the Kanazawa trip had us packing up and riding the bus 3 hours away to a small town called Shirakawa Go Village. The village made me think of how we as Americans may imagine traditional Japan to look like. It's a big tourist spot now, but it's still this quaint little village in the mountains complete with old Japanese architecture, surrounding gardens, and traditional mochi making. Mochi is a type of Japanese rice cake made from a special glutinous rice that is grown specifically for making mochi and nothing else. The rice is sweeter than the average rice that we eat on a regular basis and is pounded in this large, wooden mortar-like structure by an equally large wooden mallet.

Before I get into more details, here are a couple scenery shots of the mountains as we rode toward town. I could retire here.

Arrival at Shirakawa Go. This is the view as we walked from the parking lot into the town.

Left to right: Shin-san, Jordan, LoLo, Henry, Shawn, and Ramsey in the front.

I felt like I had traveled back in time.

Mochi making time! They had the table all set up and ready for us to learn how to make mochi.

Here's the giant wooden mortar I mentioned earlier. The mallet is just sitting in a bucket of water, to help keep the rice from sticking to it.

Before the mashing began, we were all given a taste of the mochi rice in its unmashed form.

So there are two people involved in making the mochi. The masher (technical term, of course) and the rice kneader (also technical term >_>). The rice needs to be mashed in a regular tempo so that the person kneading knows when they can get in there before the next mash to knead the rice around and keep it even. There were times when I thought she was gonna get her hand smashed for sure but they were perfectly in sync with each other. Also, there is a word that the masher uses: "yoisho" in order to signal to the kneader when they will be swinging down the mallet. Also, as the rice cools, it becomes more difficult to mash into a good product, so good synchronization is key.

Mochi is eaten year-round but is also traditionally eaten as part of the Japanese New Year celebration.

Demonstrating good mashing techniques.

I took a picture of every student who tried out a little bit of aggression therapy, but you don't need to see them all, so here's me:

Getting shown how to hold it correctly.

Yoisho!

That rice didn't know what hit it!

After everyone had their chance, the professionals took over and finished the job.

It's all doughy looking now.

After breaking the mound of mochi into smaller balls, they covered them in a sesame seed and sugar powder mixture.

They are then placed into bowls...

...along with a spoonful of anko (sweet bean paste).

Mochi, as fresh as you can get!

Liz doesn't like anko, so she just got the mochi by itself.

It's a bit chewy.

And stretchy.

But sooo good.

Fun fact:  The rate of senior deaths spikes during the new year because they eat so much mochi that many end up choking on it. That's how sticky the rice is, and we were told many times to take small bites.

Ah, time to enjoy the scenery.

Taking a picture of Lindsey taking a picture. First level of picture-ception reached!

Inside a traditional style house.

Silkworm production display.

Flowers! The macro lens finally comes out to play!

So I noticed this water-run contraption as I walked down the stone steps in a previous picture. It starts running down through here.

Then goes to this trough.

Continues down there.

And into this other trough, which, when it fills up enough, tips over and pours out the water. I am not entirely sure what it does inside the house, but I thought it was interesting anyway.

Elisabeth and Raymond checking out the koi.

Linsdey getting a shot of the waterfall.

Posing with Lindsey.

Not done with the macro, just the kit lens. Pretty impressive, huh?

Watermill.

Exploring the beaten path.

Found the river!

Cool looking mushrooms on the forest floor.

Walking back with Hannah and Malia.

Japan had hobbits too?

Lunchtime! Shrimp tempura soba. Yum.

After a little bit of shopping, it was time to say goodbye. :/

Goodbye, Shirkawa Go, wish we had more time to get to know each other.

Someone bought Kit Kats and was kind enough to share.

Another long drive would bring us to the city of Takayama, another famous historic district with many shops to buy tons of omiyage. It's also located in the Gifu prefecture, west of Nagano (where the 1998 Winter Olympics was held).

One of the many shopping streets in town. Left to right: Elisabeth, Jessie, Andrew, Fa-chan.

Pretty flowers in front of one of the shops.

No idea, but I thought it was cute.

Maneki-neko in wood. Maneki-neko is known as the "Beckoning Cat" or "Lucky Cat" believed to bring the shop owner good luck, welcoming customers and beckoning them to come inside.

So grateful for these colored bridges. We were looking for a public bathroom and would have gotten lost had these bridges looked the same.

Taking a break to enjoy some gelato.

Moss growing on the stone figure.

Man on a bird? Phoenix? No idea, but it was interesting.

Asian enough for you now?

Finished with our shopping, we got back on the bus to get to the second ryokan.

The bus stopped across the street from this pretty building. We thought it was the ryokan. We were wrong. We had to climb a 45 degree incline (maybe it wasn't THAT steep, but it felt like 45 to my poor knees!) and then climb some tiny stone steps all the way up to the ryokan. Where it was situated was gorgeous, but I kinda wanted to die during that climb. (Don't forget I had my bulky suitcase and camera bag with me.)

We decided to take their offer of splitting into pairs for two different rooms because they were so small. Hannah and Malia roomed together and I got Lindsey as my roomie.

Our room name. (They had names instead of numbers.) It reads "Ayame."

Exploring the ryokan before dinner.

Posing in our new yukata.

Raymond stealing heat from Hanna and Malia's heater. Apparently his room did not have one and there was a chill in the air that evening.

Being silly in the lobby. Left to right: Zach, AJ, Jing, Mika

Aww, we match!

Matt and Josh

Cute display in the lobby facing the door. The little red guy is Sarubobo. He's found everywhere in the Takayama area. He's some kind of mascot, but I don't know much more about it. Wikipedia says the name literally means "baby monkey" and is made by grandmothers to their grandchildren as dolls and to their daughters for a good marriage and good children.

Found a small gathering area right outside the entrances to the public baths.

I got thrown off when I realized it was in English.

Trying out the foot massager. It felt weird and tickled at first and then it kinda felt good.

Lindsey joining me in the wonder.

Enjoying a massage with Malia.

Feet!

Hannah trying the full body massage chair.

I came back to the lobby to find this. Didn't bother asking, just took the picture.

Another cute little thing on display in the lobby.

Dinnertime! Many of the students felt uneasy about seeing a whole fish on their plate, but I grew up with it so it was rather normal to me. Admittedly, this fish was a little difficult to eat. Very salty, but still delicious.

We had a few strips of beef sitting on these tiny clay stoves. The staff came by and lit them and we would cook our dinner right there.

More delicious sashimi.

Sweet tofu. I learned that this was my limit. I normally love tofu, but this stuff tasted weird.

The fire is really going now!

Josh seems like the really serious type, but he's actually incredibly funny, and weird. Is he making a derp face with a fish head in his mouth? Yes...yes he is.

Before I end things for the night, I keep forgetting to mention one of the big new things that we experienced in the ryokan. The public baths. You're not allowed to go in with cloths or a swimsuit. So you're totally naked getting into a bath with other naked people (of the same gender, they don't really have a coed option). I was really uneasy about it at first. But after taking the naked plunge (not literally plunging...), we all realized that we are all adults, and all women, with all the same women parts, and all in the same situation, so there was really nothing to be embarrassed about...unless one of you is a creeper and you like to stare at naked women... >_> But none of us were and once you get in the bath water, light refraction pretty much hides the important stuff and you end up just relaxing and enjoying the water.

And tomorrow, I'll finally get caught up. Thanks for sticking around!