For 100 years, the Nisshodo Candy Store has been making mochi and other traditional Japanese confections by hand, and they’re basically doing it the same way taught by owner Mike Hirao’s late grandfather, who had mastered the process in Hiroshima, Japan.
Like so many others of his generation, Asataro Hirao migrated from Japan to Hawaii to work on a sugar plantation. But a few years later in 1921, he switched to making the sticky rice-based sweets beloved in his homeland, Mike Hirao said. The store was originally housed in an old, two-story building next to Aala Park. After it was heavily damaged by fire, the business was moved to the current location on Dillingham Boulevard in Kalihi in 1984.
“I am very proud,” Hirao said of the store surviving such major setbacks as the Great Depression, World War II, hurricanes and the like. In comparison, “the pandemic seemed like nothing,” he said. Still, Nisshodo had to shut down for a month initially and struggled to recover. But the operation is back to running full steam.
The business is practically hidden in a jumble of industrial warehouses. Despite the faded sign and tiny, unpretentious retail lobby, customers have been “very good about tracking us down,” he said. There’s usually a steady stream of local residents, Japanese tourists and, in the past few months, many mainland tourists seeking authentic experiences.
The busiest seasons include New Year’s Day, Girl’s Day (March 3) and Boy’s Day (May 5), popular Japanese celebrations. Perpetuating the local Japanese culture through their candy products is an essential part of their business, Hirao said. The summer months are always bustling since local people travel and want to take “omiyage” gifts to friends and family on other islands or the mainland.
The recipes have stayed the same since his grandfather’s days, though Hirao has added tropical flavors to the mochi and manju fillings instead of just the usual red bean paste. Five years ago, he and his staff experimented with trending flavors as the public’s tastes changed, and now varieties such as coconut and lilikoi are especially popular with tourists. Hirao’s favorite, however, is still peanut butter.
Chichi dango, a soft, slightly sweet, chewy dumpling in white or pink, wrapped in a twist of paper for bite-sized convenience, has long been the bestseller. It’s still made in a large cooker/mixer from Japan that was built in the 1950s, then poured into aged wooden trays to cool before being cut up. Most of Nisshodo’s products are steamed.
Some of the equipment has been upgraded since Hirao’s grandfather’s time — “We don’t use charcoal anymore, we use gas now”— but what remains the same is the heavy physical labor; there’s a lot of lifting and carrying involved, he said.
Fillings are still made from scratch by boiling 50 pounds of beans at a time, mixing in sugar and other ingredients. Thankfully, the company found a machine to strain the beans. But there isn’t anything available specifically for mochi-making. “We do things the old way,” Hirao said, with a lot of cutting, shaping and finishing by hand.
Even with a dozen employees, some of them part time, Hirao puts in 12-hour days, seven days a week. He does everything from making the confections to packaging, and doing the paperwork. The store is closed Sundays, but he’s there preparing for the next week. Hirao retired from banking in 2009, but even while working he would help his father run the business.
Hirao started working at the store when he was 5 or 6 years old, folding boxes and acting as the alarm bell.
“We didn’t have a bell system so I used to yell, ‘There’s a customer!’ because nobody stayed in the front of the store, they were always working in the back,” he said.
As he grew older, he continued to help out during the holiday rush, but he didn’t start making mochi until he graduated from high school.
Hirao remembers one thing about working at the store with his grandfather.
“I used to avoid the guy as much as I could. He didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Japanese, though I learned the bad words from him,” he said, laughing. “He was very intense; he could do three or four jobs at once. He had a samurai spirit, very strong-willed. But very fair. He didn’t yell, but he gave me a look that made me feel a lot worse.”
Hirao said his father, Richard, was a hard worker too, putting in the same long hours and multitasking as his grandfather got older. Eventually Richard and his brother Thomas took over along with their sisters, the second generation to run the business.
As part of the third generation, Mike Hirao’s three sisters used to work regularly in the shop. They have retired, and one recently died. The remaining sisters still help during the holiday rush.
Hirao said none of his kids are interested in taking over, though they’ve learned how to make some of the mochi and do other tasks. “I don’t think they could stick out the grind,” he said.
But there’s a lot of outside interest in acquiring the enterprise, so Hirao takes comfort that Nisshodo’s legacy will live on.
There used to be quite a number of other mochi makers in town, but only a handful remain, each with their own way of doing things. “But they’re all good; there’s a lot of room to grow here because of the ethnicity,” Hirao said.
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Nisshodo Candy Store
1095 Dillingham Blvd.
Info: 847-1244; nisshodomochicandy.com
