Sociable chatter, the smell of rice and the pounding of a mallet against a mortar filled the Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics Building, transforming the space into a lively get-together for the Mochitsuki & Lunar New Year Event.
On Monday, the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies hosted a celebration in honor of the Lunar New Year by participating in a traditional Japanese ceremony, mochitsuki.
CEAPS aims to increase exposure to East Asian and Southeast Asian Pacific cultures through teaching, research and outreach programs.
Mochitski is a traditional Japanese ceremony where steamed, sticky rice is pounded with a wooden mallet to make mochi.
The collaboration between the two schools started when Hikaru Takeyama, a Japanese teacher at the University Laboratory High School, asked CEAPS to help purchase mochi-making equipment. This led to the two schools collaborating to produce the event.
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Takeyama has participated in mochitsuki in his classroom before. With the help of CEAPS and University Laboratory High School student volunteers, he led mochitsuki at the University, giving more people a taste of Japanese culture.
Alex Chun, the outreach coordinator for the CEAPS, said she enjoys events like this that involve the audience.
“I think any type of exposure and introduction in an interactive way is fun,” Chun said.
Everybody worked together to make the mochi, taking turns pounding the sticky rice. After working together, they ate together. They flattened their mochi in potato starch, added red bean paste, soy sauce, seaweed and other toppings. Finally, they rolled the mochi into balls to pop into their mouths.
Takeyama said it makes him happy to see people enjoying the mochi they made together.
“Many people said it was really good, and when I hear that, I’m really glad,” Takeyama said.
As they gathered around tables, filling their mochi with toppings, people chatted about their various backgrounds. High schoolers, community members, faculty members and University students all congregated over their love for mochi.
Takeyama put the event in simple terms.
“We simply made mochi, we shared and we ate together,” Takeyama said.
But people weren’t solely there to eat. Before they started smashing the sticky rice, a presentation was shown to give the steps and significance of mochitsuki. The participants’ love for mochi and appreciation for Japanese culture forged a deeper purpose for the event.
Charlotte Lynn, a University Laboratory High School student volunteer, said the event fulfilled CEAPS’s purpose of exposing others to different cultures.
“I think it’s nice that we’re able to share our different cultures with the public and have these open events where anyone can come and anyone can learn new things like this,” Lynn said. “This one was especially interactive, so I thought that was cool, and it’s great to get some cultural appreciation.”
CEAPS gave people a chance to appreciate culture, whether it was familiar or not, have fun and fill their bellies.
Takeyama explained that experiencing different cultures from a place overseas can be especially hard, but events like this act as a bridge, connecting people and culture.
“It’s really difficult to experience,” Takeyama said, referring to Japanese culture. “I think we can help.”
CEAPS is actively searching for new ways to expose more people to diverse cultures. The program has more upcoming events to expand the community’s horizons, including Asian studies film expos, a Korean speech contest and more.
Chun said CEAPS has so much more to offer University students.
“There are lots of resources in our center for people who are interested in East Asia,” Chun said.
There are numerous aspects of various cultures that are waiting for interaction and appreciation. This celebration was a way of touching one corner of the Earth.
Matt Winters, Director of CEAPS, said in his eyes, the event was a success.
“We imagined this event exactly as it happened: one where students … could see and learn about this traditional culinary form in Japan,” Winters said.
