Mar 6

WIT Life #80: Motto mochi

Anecdote Article, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life Add Comment (2)

WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

The group I was interpreting for this time returned to Japan yesterday, and I have been enjoying the last destination on our program: Hawaii!  After a week of surf and sun I can’t say that I am particularly looking forward to leaving, but I suppose all good things must come to an end.  One stop I knew I had to make while here was Kansai Yamato, a mochi maker located in the Ala Moana mall.  It’s fun to watch them make and pack the mochi before your eyes at their small stall.  Like the stores profiled in my recent writeup about wagashi in LA’s Little Tokyo, this establishment also has some pretty funky mochi flavors.  When I went today, I counted 12 atypical varieties in addition to the standard ohagi, sakura mochi, kinako mochi, etc.

Some of the more unusual types were mango, honeydew and Hawaii gentei Kona coffee daifuku, but I wasn’t brave enough to try any of those.  Instead I stuck with some of my favorites (see picture clockwise from top right): chocolate peanut butter, Oreo, peanut butter and Okinawa sweet potato.  I first tried the chocolate peanut butter, as I was envisioning the mochi version of Reeses.  There were plenty of chocolate chips but not enough peanut butter for me.  However, the pure peanut butter mochi was out of this world!  It contained crunchy peanut butter, and was far superior to either of the LA versions.  Not having had enough of a chocolate fix, I next went for the Oreo.  The creme filling taste was achieved by what seemed to be white chocolate chips, and meshed nicely with what I believe was actual Oreo crumbs mixed in the mochi.

Before you start worrying about me having gone into sugar shock on the floor of the mall, let me assure you that I was too full to even attempt the sweet potato mochi.  I’m sure it will be delicious when I enjoy it on the plane on the way home.  They were all four to a pack and cost $3.99 plus tax, except for the chocolate peanut butter which only came with three in a pack (took the picture after I tried one) and cost $3.79.  Kansai Yamato doesn’t accept credit cards, so when visiting make sure you have enough cash to satisfy your craving!