Japanese Food - Mochi

I ate some strange things in Japan, such as little crabs the size of Chiclets (they kind of had the same texture), and even rice mixed with bees and bee larva. The hurdle for me in Japan was the seafood. They eat anything from the sea, it seems. I had trouble enjoying octopus when it was tough, but when it was tender it was good. Oh, and early in my time in Japan I tried mochi, and felt like I was choking. It would stay together like taffy and I couldn't swallow small pieces without practice. Mochi is a sweet rice cake that is made by pounding the sweet rice into cakes as you see in the video. It is made usually around new year's day. A popular way of eating it is to toast it in a toaster oven (a little square of it). Then you dip it in soy sauce and sugar in a saucer. It's delicious this way. Of course, you don't always have to make a show out of pounding it and people have mochi making machines, these days.