Los Angeles ¨C Since 1903, a Japanese confectionery called Fugetsu-Do has been making mochi in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The shop¡¯s interior, little changed since the 1950s, is lined with wooden shelves and glass showcases. Workers wrap packages of sweets in pink paper on a battered linoleum countertop. Through a doorway half-covered by a fabric divider is the store¡¯s small factory, which produces a rainbow of mochi and ³¾²¹²ÔÂᨱ buns every week.
Brian Kito, the store¡¯s third-generation owner, no longer marks his manju with the intricate, handmade metal brands that his grandfather Seiichi used when he opened the business. But he still keeps them in a rice flour-dusted plastic container under the factory¡¯s wooden prep table.
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