![Mochitsuki ~How to Make Mochi, or Japanese Rice Cake~ [iPhone 4S/HD] @ohayuni71](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nnuw2kKcyxE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded October 2012 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
I came across a small festival while strolling around my neighborhood on a sunny Sunday. I found a stall selling freshly-made mochi there.
Mochi are Japanese rice cakes, which are made by pounding boiled glutinous rice into paste. The process of making mochi is called mochitsuki, which is usually (but not always) held as a year-end ceremony. People once enjoyed mochitsuki at their home, although nowadays it is not very common especially in urban areas. I remember, when I was a kid, my relatives used to gather at my grandfather's home and enjoy mochitsuki together every year-end.
Family mochitsuki is becoming a thing of the past, but it is still popular as an act of festivals and events.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Oct. 21st, 2012
I came across a small festival while strolling around my neighborhood on a sunny Sunday. I found a stall selling freshly-made mochi there.
Mochi are Japanese rice cakes, which are made by pounding boiled glutinous rice into paste. The process of making mochi is called mochitsuki, which is usually (but not always) held as a year-end ceremony. People once enjoyed mochitsuki at their home, although nowadays it is not very common especially in urban areas. I remember, when I was a kid, my relatives used to gather at my grandfather's home and enjoy mochitsuki together every year-end.
Family mochitsuki is becoming a thing of the past, but it is still popular as an act of festivals and events.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Oct. 21st, 2012
![Mochitsuki ~How to Make Mochi, or Japanese Rice Cake~ [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nnuw2kKcyxE/mqdefault.jpg "Mochitsuki ~How to Make Mochi, or Japanese Rice Cake~ [iPhone 4S/HD]
I came across a small festival while strolling around my neighborhood on a sunny Sunday. I found a stall selling freshly-made mochi there.
Mochi are Japanese rice cakes, which are made by pounding boiled glutinous rice into paste. The process of making mochi is called mochitsuki, which is usually (but not always) held as a year-end ceremony. People once enjoyed mochitsuki at their home, although nowadays it is not very common especially in urban areas. I remember, when I was a kid, my relatives used to gather at my grandfathers home and enjoy mochitsuki together every year-end.
Family mochitsuki is becoming a thing of the past, but it is still popular as an act of festivals and events.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Oct. 21st, 2012")
![Handkerchief Art Project in Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o1uhS-Aa8Ro/mqdefault.jpg "Handkerchief Art Project in Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
While strolling around my neighborhood, I found that this exhibition titled; Handkerchief Art Project was taking place at the Citizens Gallery. The description signboard was saying that an art professor asked people to paint pictures on white handkerchiefs, which he gathered together and made the exhibition using them. Oh my goodness; I didnt know this project had been going on! I shouldve joined it!
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on May 24th, 2012")
![Local Mikoshi Festival at Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oOZdnchuUoQ/mqdefault.jpg "Local Mikoshi Festival at Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
Numerous matsuri, or Shinto festivals, take place during summer to autumn in Japan. Usually they are held at a Shinto shrine to welcome Shinto gods who are related to the community and ask them for prosperity and good harvests. Many of the festivals have mikoshi parades in which people march through a town with carrying mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrines.
The mikoshi festival was also held at a shrine near my place on the national holiday, Marine Day. People gathered and paraded ebulliently although it was a pretty hot and humid day.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jul. 16th, 2012")
![Hatsumode, First Shrine Visit of New Year in Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ojiuWNYK4PM/mqdefault.jpg "Hatsumode, First Shrine Visit of New Year in Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
For many Japanese, the first thing to do at the start of a year is hatsumode. People visit a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple and make a wish for the coming year. Some of them do that as soon as the year changes. If you would like to worship at a famous shrine or a temple, you have to get in a line for several hours at the mid-winter midnight.
Even at the small shrine near my place, every year, the precincts are filled with old and young and the line of worshippers continues to the street outside. Kids, who are always told to go to bed early, are also allowed to stay up on the day.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jan. 1st, 2013")
![Glimpses of Tokyo 2012 - 2013 [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/owJLQrEudjM/mqdefault.jpg "Glimpses of Tokyo 2012 - 2013 [iPhone 4S/HD]
Enjoy the two-minute virtual Tokyo tour!
All footage was taken with an iPhone 4S from March 2012 to April 2013.
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Music by DOVA SYNDROME http://dova-s.jp/
雅楽と電子楽器:http://dova-s.jp/bgm/play246.html")
![Tokyo View from the Drivers Cabin of a Train [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p95cQ4UD33s/mqdefault.jpg "Tokyo View from the Drivers Cabin of a Train [iPhone 4S/HD]
From Tokyo Station to Hamamatsucho Station, the Keihin-Tohoku Line.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jul. 26th, 2012")
![Mikoshi at Tatara Festival 2014, Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pD-z8MJnorU/mqdefault.jpg "Mikoshi at Tatara Festival 2014, Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
Visit to learn more about this festival:
Tatara Festival 2012, Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdggFCriNWM
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Aug. 3rd, 2014")
![Katsushika Fireworks Festival 2012 at Shibamata, Tokyo [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pFgu28McAmw/mqdefault.jpg "Katsushika Fireworks Festival 2012 at Shibamata, Tokyo [iPhone 4S/HD]
In Japan, fireworks are a feature of summer. Hundreds of fireworks shows take place all over Japan during summer and millions of people go see them.
Katsushika Fireworks Festival, held at Shibamata, Katsushika, marked the beginning of the shows of this summer in Tokyo. Over 10,000 colorful fireworks lit up the summer night sky and over a half million people enjoyed the spectacle.
The fireworks season has just begun. Numerous shows are following this. Folks living in Japan, dont miss them!
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jul. 24th, 2012")
![Daikanyama T-Site, Stylish Commercial Complex by Tsutaya [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pnv71tmG23Q/mqdefault.jpg "Daikanyama T-Site, Stylish Commercial Complex by Tsutaya [iPhone 4S/HD]
Tsutaya, the largest music and video rental chain in Japan, was the first company which implemented the idea of selling books at video rental stores.
They opened Daikanyama T-Site in the Daikanyama of Tokyo, a stylish commercial complex centering on its large bookstore. You can browse books sitting on a chair or a sofa before buying them at the store.
The facility has various stores: restaurants, cafes, a clinic, a toy store, a dog salon, a camera store, an electric power-assisted bike store, and so on. It would be a good idea to enjoy shopping after browsing and buying books or read a book you bought while drinking good coffee at a cafe.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jul. 31st, 2012")
