How's your relationship with rice been of late? For people outside Japan, it's probably not an issue. But many of us in the archipelago — consciously or not — gauge how we're doing in life by how we're doing with our okome (お米, reverent rice). At this time of year Japanese rice is at the peak of tastiness. When the shinmai (新米, new rice crop) comes out, it's somewhat of a status symbol to be able to afford it, cook it for family and friends, and distribute small bagfuls as osusowake (お裾分け, sharing out) to neighbors. Having shinmai in the house endows the inhabitants with a deep, satisfying sense of security and prosperity — another minori no aki (実りの秋, bountiful autumn) is here to be enjoyed and all is right with the world!
Japan has an ingrained love of rice, but it's only in the last decade or so that the steadydownhill slide in rice consumption here has slowed. Before World War II, the average Japanese adult reportedly consumed four to six bowls of rice every day, but by 1975 portions had halved. Almost every kateiyō suihanki (家庭用炊飯器, household rice cooker) that came out after that can fit no more than four gō (合, approximately 180cc, or just under one Japan-size cup), which provides 1.5 zen (膳, rice-bowl helping) each for a family of four. The reason for such small rice cookers? Rice is packed with nutrients including proteins and glucose — it just didn't suit modern diets. As more women joined the work force, no one had time to wash rice and set the cooker in the morning. It's much easier to toast bread or boil a batch of noodles.
But, truth be told, the Japanese and rice go back so far and share so much history, anguish and love that they're bound to get back together. To the Japanese, rice is not just a staple of life: it's life itself. For 4,000 years, rice adorned altars at religious ceremonies and festivals, financed war campaigns and made and broke lords and warriors. It even served as the nation's major currency for close to three centuries.