is that my mochi over there?

In China and Japan people talk about the rabbit in the moon (instead of the man in the moon). After I learned this, for some reason I always had an easier time seeing the rabbit than the man.

The key to seeing him, I think, is understanding that he's not just sitting there—he's pounding rice to make mochi (a process described as mochizuki, which also means "full moon," get it? ha ha).

Anyway, Loopy complains about not being able to see the rabbit, so for her and other rabbit-seeing-challenged folk, here he is:



In case you are hampered by a lack of clarity on what "pounding rice to make mochi" looks like, here's another visual aide:



And what do you make out of mochi when it's all pounded up? C'mon, you know this one... yummy snacks!



And that's all the procrastination we have time for this afternoon, boys & girls.