Time to Break a Mirror

One of the traditional New Year items on display somewhere in the house until January 11 is called kagami mochi. Mochi is boiled rice that has been pounded into something resembling Playdoh, and kagami means mirror. Disks of kagami mochi are piled onto each other in descending order of diameter and festooned with various edible seaweeds to make the display.

Trust me, it does look nice topped off with a tiny, orange mikan.

Unlike holiday decorations in other countries, there is a specific date to remove the kagami mochi display, and that day is January 11. Then what happens? You'll see in the next post.