Mochi Cakes, Hung Up to Dry in Their Thousands, Crowd Famer’s Hut in Aomori Pref.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:16 JST, January 29, 2025

AOMORI — Dried mochi cakes, a winter tradition, are being prepared in the Tawaramoto district of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture.

The dried cakes, which are hard and somewhat sweet, have long been popular as a preserved food and are made by drying mochi during the cold winter months.

Kenitsu Kanenari, a 71-year-old farmer in the area, ties pieces of mochi cake that are 8 centimeters square, and 1 centimeter thick, with string and hangs them in his hut from a height of about 4 meters. He has been making the cakes from late November to February every year for more than 40 years, besides also growing rice and tending to apple trees.

This season, he plans to make the cakes out of about 4,800 kilograms of glutinous rice harvested last fall. He had about 65,000 of the cakes hanging in his hut on Monday.

“The cakes have turned out well this year, too. I hope people will enjoy them either baked or deep-fried,” Kanenari said.