For the average Japanese, no day starts out right without a bowl of steaming, glistening white rice.
It is heard and smelled long before it is seen: There is the comforting gurgle from the pressure cooker, and the delicate fragrance wafting from the kitchen as the woman of the household chops up vegetables and tofu for miso soup. Yes, the homemaker household has traditionally been the decider when it comes to choosing which brand of rice is used and what kind of cooker it goes into.
These days, however, retired men are taking greater interest in preparing their own food. They join cooking clubs, they fuss over the freshness of ingredients at supermarkets and — according to retailers — pore over rice-cooker specs in catalogs.