Hunt for gohei mochi
 

On my first visit to Japan, I bought a snack at a snack-stand in Magome that turned out to be gohei mochi. It was super good and we loved it and resolved to eat more if we got the chance. Alas, we did not see it sold anywhere else on that trip. Since then, I've been back to Japan a bunch of times and never seen it, though I keep my eyes open for it.

I'm going to be in Japan for the flyertalk gathering in April, and then will hang out in country for a while afterward. I'd like to find some tasty tasty gohei mochi while I am in country if I can.

On the English web there are lots of *recipes* for gohei mochi, but very little advice on where to find it sold. There are a few web pages that imply that in parts of certain prefectures, it's practically ubiquitous at snack stands. I'm trying to narrow down my search to more specifics, like maybe cities or towns where I'd see it a lot.

Can any of you fine folks advise specific places where I'd likely find it on sale a lot? I plan to spend a few days in and around Nagoya this trip, and I gather that this is in the neighborhood, but have stalled out getting more specific.

Gohei Mochi is a regional delicacy found at Central Mountain area of Japan: Hida, Takayama area is known for Gohei Mochi but also can be found at part of Nagano, Toyama, and Yamanashi. Usually flavored with soy sauce or miso based sauce.

Gohai Mochi is not totally unknown outside of the area known for Gohei Mochi, but same time it not one of top delicacies in Japan. Outside of the area known for Gohei Mochi, like in Tokyo and Nagoya, it is not like you will find Gohei Mochi on every other location. At Tokyo you have came across a place which had Gohei Mochi, but at Tokyo I think you simply have to know the place which has Gohei Mochi.

Since Gohei Mochi is not one of top delicacies in Japan, I do not think place which carry Gohei Mochi will put that information on a website or such. Japanese restaurant search/review website Taberogu only list two locations in Tokyo which possibly has Gohei Mochi. It does not mean only two locations has it in Tokyo, but likely many place do not bother to list Gohei Mochi as one of their offerings.

If you read Japanese, you can order Gohei Mochi from Internet and delivered to your hotel while you are visiting Japan.

Amazon Japan has it.
Edit: For some reason I can't paste in the full URL of the Amazon page. Go to amazon.co.jp and enter 五平餅 in the search bar.

I was definitely thinking places where I could go and buy it cooked and ready to eat, but the suggestions on ordering are pretty intriguing!

When you mention Nagano, Toyama, and Yamanashi, are you talking about the prefectures or the towns/cities?

I quibble with your claim that "Gohei Mochi is not one of top delicacies in Japan" but of course I mean that subjectively. I get that it's not popular enough for places to advertise :).

I'll probably base in/around Nagoya for several days, so I could make a stop along a day trip if there was a town where I'd be likely to find food stands with it. I was thinking of visiting Ogimachi as a daytrip, but I just looked at the transport options and they don't look fun. Maybe I'll just go back to Magome and walk the Nakasendo again.

amazon.co.jp search link attempt

Thanks, all!

The prefectures

("... part of Nagano, Toyama, and Yamanashi" = some parts of those prefectures. Not parts of towns ... obvs)

I've heard of goheimochi, but wasn't sure what it was... until I saw this thread and then looked it up. Then I saw the picture and realized I've eaten it a bunch of times before.

Anyways, some googling in japanese identified places that sell this.

Asakusa: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1311/A131102/13009811/
Hachioji: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1329/A132904/13100716/
Nagoya: https://tabelog.com/en/aichi/A2301/A230105/23009156/

You're looking for something like this (the version from the Nagoya one, photo credit to Tabelog)?
https://tabelog.com/imgview/original?id=r1977414713106

evergrn: OMG THANK YOU! That is exactly the sort of info that is most helpful to me, and it's well beyond the flyertalk "call of duty" to search in Japanese on my behalf. 本当に有難うございました。The ones I've had have been of the "single, large oval" per-stick variety rather than "3 spheres" variety, but, basically, yes, that looks like what I've had.

jib71: what can I say, my brain works differently than most people's. It wasn't necessarily obvious to me :)

If you go to Takayama, there's a place at this address:
日本岐阜県高山市上一之町2. Mizuma
https://tabelog.com/en/gifu/A2104/A210401/21012620/
That sells it.

I went to a friends house some years ago and we made a version of kiritampo for Northern (Akita) style nabe.
My daughter was very young at the time so I was delighted to learn that there was a style of Mochi that wasn't so potentially lethal to babies and small children. From that introduction I did a bit of research and I've been making Gohei Mochi ever since.

This personal interest means that I'll buy it in Japan whenever I see it, the sweet miso sauces (often with walnuts) vary enormously, so I'm not sure I've tried the definitive version yet.

My memory isn't the best, but I've had it near Takao San Guchi station, up in the Fukushima region near Mt Bandai and at a couple of festivals in Tokyo itself.

If you have a Kitchen Aid with a paddle setting you can make it yourself out of standard cooked Japanese rice (a suribachi and wet pestle takes rather longer). The sauce is pretty easy, mostly trial and error. Perfect food for an autumn BBQ.

Since so many links to specific places are being posted, I figured I'd post a link to the place that started me on this adventure.

Snack stand in Magome

ahhh, found it's tabelog :)

https://tabelog.com/en/gifu/A2103/A210303/21001718/