“Japanese Confectionary” (15 min)

Director / Producer: Kanako Arata
With Hohki Watanabe and Toru Oda

What Japanese confectionaries can tell us about the immigrant society?

Every day early in the morning, Brian Kito, a Japanese confectionary artisan, starts working at Fugetsudo, a Japanese confectionary shop found by his grandfather in Little Tokyo, to make fresh mochi. Brian’s mochi confectionary and Fugetsudo have been a community tie for Japanese Americans in Little Tokyo for years.

Minamoto Kiccho An, a Japanese confectionary company established in Japan after WWII, has worked to incorporate new ideas into the industry since its beginning. Minamoto Kiccho An recently opened branches in Southern California to put their innovative products to the test in American market.

By juxtaposing the two different business practices of Japanese confectionary makers, Japanese Confectionary depicts the value of Japanese confectionary and various reception of it in the United States today and in the past.