Akafuku's Spatula

When Mossari goes on business trips, he often buys me souvenirs.

One Saturday in April, as soon as he arrived home, Mossari took something out of his backpack and said, "I thought the small one would be enough since there's only two of us, but it wasn't enough last time, so I bought the big one." It was Akafuku.

When I was a child, Akafuku commercials were often on TV.

♪ Ise's specialty, Akafuku mochi, isn't it great?

I sang this song to Mossari, but he said he didn't know it. Oh, right. I guess that commercial doesn't air in Saitama.
Since they are sold at Kyoto Station and Shin-Osaka Station, people in Osaka are familiar with them and eat them from time to time. And at regular intervals, I get an irresistible craving for them.

Mossari, who struggled a bit because the tape wouldn't come off, opened the lid and looked at the Akafuku neatly lined up in three columns and four rows, and exclaimed in admiration,
"Wow. They're lined up so neatly. As expected."

Akafuku is always neatly lined up, so there's no need to be that impressed. I wondered why he was so moved by it now. Then, he started talking as if a dam had broken.

“You see, I was worried they would shift before I got back to Shin-Osaka, so I kept them in a bag and kept them level the whole time.
But then, I stopped by a barbershop on the way back.
At the barbershop, I put my luggage diagonally in front of my seat, but there was only enough space for this much (about one backpack's worth), and if I put the Akafuku on top of the backpack, they might ask me, 'Are you on a business trip?' I always request the same person, but I try not to talk to them except for saying 'Thank you for everything this year' at the end of the year and 'I look forward to working with you again this year' at the beginning of the year.
If they asked me, 'Are you on a business trip?', it would get complicated. If they asked, 'Where are you from?', I'd end up lying and saying, 'Niigata.'
So I decided to put the Akafuku inside my backpack.
But I had so much luggage that it wouldn't fit while staying level. I had no choice but to put it in vertically.”

I can vividly picture Mossari's expression as he reluctantly turned the Akafuku vertically and shoved it into his backpack at the barbershop, his efforts to keep the Akafuku level all the way from Nagoya to Shin-Osaka having been in vain.

Akafuku doesn't fall apart at all even when turned vertically.
Truly a specialty of Ise.

Mossari takes the Akafuku with the included spatula for scooping the mochi and puts it on a plate for me.
I gratefully eat the Akafuku, which has arrived after being turned sideways and vertically and is now sitting neatly on the plate, with chopsticks along with some warm tea.
Yeah. It's soft and chewy. The softness of this mochi is exquisite whenever I eat it.

But I imagine it would be even more delicious if I took the Akafuku scooped up with the spatula and popped it into my mouth directly from the spatula.
It's similar to eating okonomiyaki directly from the iron plate with a spatula.

Ah, I want to eat Akafuku directly from the spatula.

I wish they would include two spatulas for a six-pack and four for a twelve-pack, depending on the number of pieces.

The included spatula changed from wood to paper a little while ago. When I first saw the white cardboard spatula, I felt very sad. I wanted the Akafuku spatula to stay wood forever.

I wonder what kind of discussions took place within the company when they decided to switch from wood to paper.
I wonder if there was a fierce clash and staring contest between the faction that wanted to keep the wooden spatula and raise the price, and the faction that wanted to keep the price the same and use a paper spatula.
Or perhaps it was changed by the president's decree.

The next day, I ate the Akafuku that Mossari had left behind in the kitchen all by myself, using the spatula. And I scraped the mochi stuck to the spatula with my teeth. Ah, this is it, I felt filled with happiness.
Why is the mochi stuck to the spatula so delicious?

But I feel like the smell of the paper is transferring to the Akafuku and spoiling the flavor.
No, is Akafuku not meant to be eaten directly from the spatula in the first place?

In this day and age, it might be unavoidable, but I still desperately hope they will go back to the wooden spatula.