Mochi were only meant for the Japanese Emperor.
Mochi, the Japanese sweet was only meant to be eaten by the Emperor when it was first invented.
Mochi is a Japanese sweet traditionally eaten for Japanese New Year. When mochi was first invented, only the Japanese emperor was allowed to eat them. Later, mochi were eaten at weddings for good luck and a long marriage, and now they are said to bring good luck for the New Year.
The traditional way of making mochi is hard work. One person must grind rice by hand as another one adds water to make the rice powder into a sticky mass. Then different flavors are added, and the mass is formed into little balls.
The first Japanese people came to NYC in 1876 but from 1924 onwards people from Japan were not allowed to move to the U.S. anymore. And especially after the attack on Pearl Harbor they were not welcome in this country. This changed in 1950 and with immigrants came ice cream mochi that are now a favorite dessert in the U.S. Even though traditional Japanese mochi are filled with sweet bean paste not ice cream.
ABOUT JAPAN
Japan is a country in East Asia, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Japan consists of 6,852 islands, and its culture is thousands of years old. Although many parts of Tokyo (the capital) are very modern places and people from Japan are among the highest educated in the world, tradition plays a big role in Japan’s everyday life. Because the country is located so far east, it is often called “Land of the Rising Sun”.
