A day for Omochi

Omochi, or mochi without the honorific 'o', is a square rice cake made out of sticky, glutinous rice. Abroad Mochi is generally used as the collective term for all the different types and styles of Japanese rice cakes. But in Japan it typically just refers to the traditional, chewy and subtly sweet plain mochi. Mochi is now eaten all year round, but it is traditionally associated with celebrations.

I personally most associate mochi with the New Year. We always have mochi at New Years. We have large packets of premade mochi that we can toast in the grill. Moreover, on New Years Day we pound rice and make our own in a tradition called Mochitsuki. Some people do the mochitsuki in advance of New Years and you can often find mochitsuki events on in December in Japan.

But it would seem in the past mochi was popular on October 10th annually, because it used to be "physical education day". Reportedly there were many events related to mochi on this day in the past. Thus, October 10th was chosen as Mochi Day with the added reason that the "10" and "10" of 10/10 appear to be in the shape of a row of square and round mochi.