The Japanese [heart] Rice

One thing you have to know about the Japanese people: they really love rice. The Japanese eat it with most every meal, a big plate or bowl of steamed white rice along with whatever meat or vegetable dish they’re having. In the same way that sake is both a term for rice wine as well as a generic term for all types of alcohol in general, the word for rice (gohan) can also refer to any food or meal. The best rice is a type called koshi-hikari that’s grown in Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan, and restaurants go out of their way to advertise when the new crop of freshly-harvested rice (shin-mai) has come in, to attract customers who want to eat the most delicious rice of the year. The Japanese know that Westerners eat “bread” instead of rice, and picture us enjoying every meal with a large basket of rolls or baguettes, three times per day. The K-On! song Gohan wa Okazu sums up how Japanese feel about rice, with lyrics like:Rice is amazing / it goes with anything. Warm, warm!

Kimchi, natto, raw eggs and so on.

White rice is a pure white canvas, for an infinite imagination!