Omochitsuki Taikai in Madrid

I am home now. After a good sunday work as a volunteer in the Japanese New Year’s celebration.

A lot of people gathered together (more than 1400), mostly spanish but also japanese and half japanese. Everyone bought japanese traditional food. Like crazy. People piling up and trying to buy as much food as possible. As if the world was going to end and the last thing they wanted was to have a omochi.

I helped out in the kitchen bringing trays full of food to the main room. Quite easy, quite fun

It was very interesting how people are related to japanese culture in this part of the world. Manga freaks, business men or simply friends of a japanese person. They all had one thing in common: the joy of sharing a common interest in the same culture.

I liked the experience and will surely try to do it next year too