Capt. Erin Demchko makes rice cakes, known as mochi, with Okinawa residents Jan. 8 at Shioya Sub-village Hall in Uruma City, Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa residents invited Marines to partake and experience this traditional New Year’s event alongside them. The rice was pounded into a paste, hand-rolled into balls with flour, coated in brown sugar and dipped into a sweet sauce. Demchko is the deputy camp commander of Camp Courtney, and a logistics officer with Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force and a Pearl River, New York, native.( Marine Corps photo by Pf

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Capt. Erin Demchko makes rice cakes, known as mochi, with Okinawa residents Jan. 8 at Shioya Sub-village Hall in Uruma City, Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa residents invited Marines to partake and experience this traditional New Year’s event alongside them. The rice was pounded into a paste, hand-rolled into balls with flour, coated in brown sugar and dipped into a sweet sauce. Demchko is the deputy camp commander of Camp Courtney, and a logistics officer with Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force and a Pearl River, New York, native.( Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Danielle R. Prentice)

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Size: 4603px × 3288px
Photo credit: © AB Forces News Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: cakes, camp, ceremony, city, community, courtney, culture, event, marine, marines, mochi, mochitsuki, okinawa, pounding, rice, tradition, uruma, year