Now that the World Cup is nearly over, those of us in Japan turn our attention to other matters, such as food fights. Japan must be the only country where throwing food is not only acceptable but encouraged. Whole neighborhoods gather to throw food at each other in a tradition called "mochi nage," or throwing rice cakes. No ceremony in Japan is complete without mochi, a symbol of happiness. In the old days, they probably threw only rice cakes, but these days they throw anything from packaged bread to bags of potato chips and instant ramen -- modern symbols of happiness.
The other day, neighbors on my island held a mochi nage ceremony for their new house. The house was half-finished -- no walls yet -- but when I arrived, the builder was just tacking on the roof. Other people were milling around carrying plastic bags, waiting for the action to begin. To the side of the house were rows of sake bottles, fruit baskets and enormous "bento" tied up in pink cloth that would be distributed to family members afterward.
First, the builder and some other men carried a Shinto ornament to the top of the roof. The ornament was on a platform that they balanced on the peak of the roof. Offerings of sake and "kagami mochi" (large rice cakes the size of round mirrors) and a giant radish were set on the platform. The men, in their special roof shoes with a notch for the big toe, like Dr. Dentons for carpenters, knelt down on the roof and prayed to the gods. They poured sake and drank it right there on top of the roof! Another man poured a bottle of purifying sake around the foundation of the house .