Helped out at the British Embassy on Saturday with a traditional rice-cake pounding event. This Japanese new-year ritual first involves cooking (slightly sticky) Japanese mochi rice into a sort of rice-dough. This is then placed into a large stone bowl, and the mochi is pounded with a large wooden hammer. It is a traditional community get-together ritual with everyone taking turns in pounding the hot mochi 'dough' into a sticky mass, which is then made into small mochi cakes eaten with a number of sweet and savoury toppings.
It was my first official event as committee member of the British-Japan Society, and we had about 110 in attendance so it was a nice get-together. A number of older members of the society then moved on to the nearby Diamond Hotel for champagne and Parma ham, and other savouries. I made the acquaintance of the ex-President of Christie's Japan Mr. Iwase there, as well as a senior manager at the Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo, IR staff from Sony and a number of other related embassy individuals. We later went over to Mr. Iwase's new office in the stylish Omotesando area of Tokyo, and continued with light conversation and a case of Romanee-Conti 1986 from his personal collection. Got back pretty late that night...
1 comment:
Something to keep in mind about Christie's modest beginnings:
1766 - James Christie holds first auction in Pall Mall, London. The sale included two chamber pots, a pair of sheets, two pillowcases and four irons, among other items.
1778 - James Christie negotiates Sir Robert Walpole's collection of paintings to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.
Let's hope NaviBlog doesn't take that long!!
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