As I said before, a lot of towns in Japan hold Mochi Nage events, not all of them at New Years time. There is one famous one in the town of in March. One westerner in town for the festival, Farstrider, had this to say about the activity: "Hosting a Mochi Nage (or rice-cake throw) is the closest a group of Japanese people can get to inciting a full-scale riot without being arrested by the police. It is a curious Shinto practice where elderly people, who I see so often with backs bent pedaling their bicycles as if each cycle of the wheel would be their last, receive the amazing burst of stamina and strength to throw aside their children, friends and countrymen, for the chance at catching or scooping off the ground a tasteless, palm-sized rice cake. To say it was dangerous would be an understatement. Before the nage (throw) began, a person came on the loudspeaker and repeatedly asked that all children, elderly, and women leave the square. After it began, the shouting, pushing, and begging began and my friends and I were pushed back and forth and even down on the pavement. One of my friends was trampled (he was all right, 'cept for a sore leg). It was crazy. It was chaos. "

In the photo bar on the left, you can see photos from the Mochi Nage festivities at Aratano. In this town's version of Mochi Nage, a colorful boat-like vehicle (actually a converted car) is first rolled through the streets, collecting a crowd of eager mochi scavengers in the process. We all then moved on to the local shrine where the proper rice cake chucking and catching sessions began -- and as I already mentioned, I ended up scooping up much of the venerable little mochi's.

Mochi Nage celebrations are also held to bless the construction of a new house, according to some reports I have read on the Internet. As Amy Chavez has reported: "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 store-bought bread to bags of 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 neighbors 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 afterwards.

"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 special place cut out 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.

"Then the family members climbed a ladder up to the second floor, a very strategic place to throw mochi from due to the position above the crowd and lots of room for arm-swinging. Here they piled the mochi and the other symbols of happiness as if they were ammunition. More and more bags of happiness where handed up via the ladder to the second floor and the roof. Then everyone took their stance.

"Someone yelled something, perhaps "Food fight!" and suddenly I was caught in a melee of flying food."

But that's another story...