Every January, the Japan-America Society of Southern Colorado holds a Rice Pounding Festival, or Mochi-tsuki. The event is free and open to the public but does require a reservation (www.jassc.org).

The event lasts several hours, usually 10am to noon, and begins with the pounding of the rice. The rice is put into an usu, a hollowed-out log, and pounded with a kine, a large wooden mallet. There are smaller kine available for children to use. After each hit, the rice is turned in the usu. Everyone is welcome to take a turn pounding the rice. It's great fun but not as easy as it looks! At the same time people begin to pound the rice, several different varieties of prepared mochi (pounded rice) are brought out for tasting. As the rice is pounded, more varieties are prepared live. I recommend the Anko-mochi, which is made with red bean paste. It's very sweet, used in many types of candy in Japan.

This is a wonderful event for anyone interested in Japanese culture or just trying out some new food!