"Everyone thought we were nuts," Akiyoshi said, "but it's turned into a really fun tradition. We want our children to be proud of being American, but we also want them to know where they came from and be proud of being Japanese too."
As he turned out a new batch of pounded rice ready for cutting and shaping, Akiyoshi called his family and friends to gather at the table. His daughter, 11-year-old Taryn, lined up with three friends from school and her community basketball team. The parents encourage their children to invite new friends each year to spread the tradition.
Taryn's aunt, Karen Kawaguchi, showed the girls how to shape the rice gobs into soft round pillows with the edges of their hands just as grandma taught her. Too much flour and the top will crack. Too much handling and the mochi will get tough. The aim is a perfectly round sphere with a glistening sheen on top.
"Oh, they look pretty," Kawaguchi said, surveying their smooth discs. "Like someone's beautiful face."
In between batches, the family played basketball, chatted, ate sushi and chili rice. Even for professionals like Kito of Fugetsudo, mochi-making -- known in Japanese as mochitsuki -- is still about bringing together family and friends. Year after year, old friends gather at his shop at 2 a.m. to help him get out his enormous holiday orders. His nieces help out at the counter; his brother-in-law comes in to help deliver the special orders.
"The whole idea of mochitsuki is bringing family together," Kito said. "It's about teamwork to get a mission done."
The Akiyoshi children, Kenneth and Taryn, have no doubt that they will keep the tradition going. Kenneth, in fact, said he sees growing interest in mochi across the broader public.
Popular frozen yogurt shops, such as Pinkberry and Yogurtland, offer small mochi pieces as one of their toppings. This past Halloween, Kenneth said, one of his non-Japanese friends dressed up in a mochi costume. Mochi ice cream, invented by Hashimoto's Mikawaya, is sold at such mainstream stores as Trader Joe's.
If mochi eating goes mainstream, can mochi making be far behind?
"If somebody doesn't keep it going, the tradition will die," Cary Akiyoshi said. "So you hope by exposing your kids and friends to it, they'll keep it strong."
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teresa.watanabe@latimes.com
