Rice cake (Mochi) making and steam rice

I have made Rice Cake (Japanese Mochi) for new year today. I have some helpers today so tried with Stone Mortar since I planned to do with Rice Cake Machine. For the last one, I added dried shrimp. The picture is the scene that pounding just steamed rice gently with the pestle so the rice becomes sticky. Along the way I cooked rice (normal Japanese rice, not a sticky rice for rice cake) with Japanese kettle. Heat it with middle to strong heat until it boils, then reduce the heat for about 10 minutes without frame. Then leave it for 5 minutes before serving. If I put the rice in the wooden rice tub to eliminate extra moisture, I would obtain the best result but it was not available so I considered to use wooden Sushi tub but not used. Instead, I did use a normal plastic tapper. But the result exceeded than expectation. Each grain of steamed rice were individually stand without collapsing. The finish was almost perfect with very sweet taste.