It’s how the rabbit on the moon does it. 
Thank you for the gentle correction! Mostly, I wanted to make the point that butter mochi is a variant native to Hawai’i by most if not all accounts, rather than a “traditional” option and how that was likely relevant to your POV on the subject.
I love daifuku (as described by @gnoitall above) as an occasional treat. I think it would be cloying as a regular thing, and I would soon get tired of it. Also (for someone who has to watch what he eats) I believe it is packed, packed I tells ya, with carbs. The beans provide a small (i.e. tiny) amount of protein.
But it doesn’t have to be sweet, it can also be savory. My Japanese husband buys these little frozen blocks of it, and he’ll cook a couple at a time, for a snack, over the flame on our gas stove with a flame diffuser thing under it. It softens and sort of bubbles, and then starts to turn brown. I’m not sure exactly at what point he takes it off the heat, but anyway he wraps seaweed around it, pours a little soy sauce over it, and very carefully (because it’s hot) eats it.
I prefer black sesame or peanuts. Red bean is fine, though.
There used to be a stunning mochi spot near Fair City Mall in Fairfax, Va. They made these amazing frozen fruit concoctions, not ices or sherbets, but something less sweet, more intensely fruit flavored and smoother. They would put little balls of plain mochi rolled in toasted grain (soy flour maybe?) into the mix right before serving it to you.
The mochi made for a perfect little break from the intensely fresh fruit flavors. A little like the cream at the center of an oreo - otherwise it would have been too much. I loved those.
They also made “sandwiches” tucked into one fourth of a folded crepe. Man, I miss that place.
I actually despise it…it’s like a wad of uncooked bread dough wrapped around a filling. You chew it forever after the filling’s been swallowed and it just gums up your throat and feels like it’ll choke you. I’ve only had a frozen filling, maybe ice cream, because I only had it once and won’t do it again.
I tried it for the first time yesterday, with the red bean paste. I found it underwhelming.
I like mochi, especially with red bean paste.
I can take it or leave it. I’ve mostly had it as a wrapper around a filling. And how much i like the snack (it’s usually a snack) basically depends on how much i like the filling. The mochi itself has a fairly neutral flavor. A little too sweet when the filling is savory, but basically neutral. And the mochi does a nice job of keeping your hands clean while you eat the snack.
The texture is an acquired taste. The first time i had it i found it unpleasantly rubbery. But I’ve acquired the taste, and while i don’t crave the texture or anything, i no longer find it disconcerting. It’s just what it is.
Never ran across it (or senbei, either) during my three years in Hawai`i.
I don’t know a lot about it, but a lot of stores near me stock mochi ice cream novelties next to drumsticks or whatever and they’re great.
White chocolate, when made with actual cocoa butter, is much better than the other white stuff (which is supposed to be called white coating, white confectionary coating, almond bark, summer coating, or a white baking bar). White chocolate mousse with raspberries is sublime.
I like mochi okay, but like others have said, it’s more the fillings. One of my daughters is celiac and Filipina, so we get it now and then.
My guess is toasted rice bits (khao khua)
Love mochi. I have yet to find any form of mochi I do not like.
This seems really hard to believe!
Those Two Ladies should be sainted!
Great post and user name combo. And I’m delighted to discover another poster who appreciates Two Ladies.
I’ve only had fresh mochi once, and that’s at the local Japanese restaurant. Most of the time I get the bagged version from the Asia store, and my favorite is red bean paste. So it’s basically an excuse to get red bean paste in an easily edible form, since I don’t feel like making dumplings.
Overall, mochi is underwhelming, but I still keep buying it. I do like trying other flavors.