Fugetsu-Do, the oldest business in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo district, specializes in mochi, a popular variety of Japanese sweets made from a glutinous short-grain rice called mochigome, which is soaked overnight, then steamed and pounded into a soft, sticky dough. A mainstay of Japanese festivals and New Year celebrations, these bite-sized orbs are traditionally filled with white or red bean paste and trace their roots back to ancient Shinto rituals, where they were made as offerings to thank the deities for bountiful rice harvests.