115-year-old mochi shop Benkyodo closes today. So does an important chapter for San Francisco’s Japanese Americans.
. Carter, who is Black and Okinawan, would eat mochi and black-eyed peas with her family on New Year’s Day, and it was extra special when the mochi came from Benkyodo, one of San Francisco Japantown’s oldest shops. “I remember biting into the utter softness of the mochi and floating momentarily,” she says, her favorite flavors being the strawberry- or red-bean-filled ones, the latter of which were dusted in kinako.
“Being in J-Town, hanging with Japanese American and Asian friends, and working at Benkyodo, were cultural learning experiences for me, and truly helped me be proud of my heritage.” During preparation for New Year celebrations in the late ’70s, when Nakagawa was in middle school, he helped to make mochi at the shop. Mochi is one of the most important foods eaten during New Year festivities, representing good luck and, for the kagami mochi topped with citrus dai dai, a long life. “Benkyodo really gave me a perspective on how to prepare and make rice, and make it the right way,” he said.
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