When former Foreign Ministers need to vent

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Komura Masahiko, after mistakenly purchasing inexpensive "shrink-to-fit" armor from an unscrupulous Tokyo dealer, gamely proceeded in the solemn traditional public gymnasium rite of purification on January 9.

After screaming a lusty battle cry

he gathered with every hyakume of his strength

and slew a massive and clearly threatening amount of potentially trachea-clogging mochi.

I had always wondered, when I finally got around to throwing out the plastic-encased oshogatsu display mochi sometime in mid-May, what I had been expected to to with it.

Now I know.

I am one the last one to titter at the former FM's oversized outfit, of course. For two years, I led our local school's oendan at the Koganei City All-City afterschool program athletic meet, dressed as a pink and pale gray dancing elephant.