Types of Japanese rice

[Dignan]

Trade barriers and subsidies are a prickly topic, but I think that the rice industry in Japan is a good example of why the policies are acceptable in certain instances. I can't speak to the actual policies in Japan at this time because I don't know enough about them, but I understand the kernel in the idea. Japan is an island nation, where ariable land is at a premium. The government would do its folks a disservice if it did not encourage, despite free market pressure, the continued vitality of its indigenous agriculture. That's not to grant without cause income to farmers and landowners, it's to make sure the nation can grow its own food if other outlets become limited or unavailable. US sugar subsidies, on the other hand, I think are more difficult to justify from the get go -- I'm not sure they protect anything other than jobs and investments. Not that those things aren't important, I guess what I'm thinking is that there are pure subsidies/protections, and then those we do for other reasons?

[Hiroyuki]

Before making any statement about this highly political issue, I'd like to make my position clear so as not to be totally misunderstood: I am on my side. I am not on the Japanese government's side, or Japanese farmers', or the U.S. government's, or any other country's side. Repeat: I'm on my side. And, I am a consumer, a rice consumer. And, as a consumer, I want to buy things at reasonable prices. I am willing to pay more for better quality. Sometimes I place quality before quantity, and sometimes vice versa. And, I want freedom of choice. I want to eat Koshihikari rice produced in the United States for its quality. Blind taste tests are quite irrelevant. I want to eat what I want to eat.

In 1994, the highly controversial and obsolete Shokkan Ho (Food Control Law), which was enacted way back in 1942 (during the war period), was repealed, replaced by a more modern Shokuryo Ho. It was phenomenal, and this phenomenal change was brought about largely by the poor rice crop of the previous year (1993).

Although the new law does not purport a totally free market for rice transactions, yet it is certainly a change for the better.

Let me stop here. It's a complicated matter. I need more thinking.

[Dignan]

Before making any statement about this highly political issue, I'd like to make my position clear so as not to be totally misunderstood: I am on my side. I am not on the Japanese government's side, or Japanese farmers', or the U.S. government's, or any other country's side. Repeat: I'm on my side. And, I am a consumer, a rice consumer. And, as a consumer, I want to buy things at reasonable prices. I am willing to pay more for better quality. Sometimes I place quality before quantity, and sometimes vice versa. And, I want freedom of choice. I want to eat Koshihikari rice produced in the United States for its quality. Blind taste tests are quite irrelevant. I want to eat what I want to eat.

In 1994, the highly controversial and obsolete Shokkan Ho (Food Control Law), which was enacted way back in 1942 (during the war period), was repealed, replaced by a more modern Shokuryo Ho. It was phenomenal, and this phenomenal change was brought about largely by the poor rice crop of the previous year (1993).

Although the new law does not purport a totally free market for rice transactions, yet it is certainly a change for the better.

Let me stop here. It's a complicated matter. I need more thinking.

You've clearly got some knowledge about the laws that I don't have, and some emphatic opinions on them as well. Mind you, that's not a challenge to either your knowledge or opinions -- my limited knowledge was admitted earlier in the thread and I'm just looking to learn. Perhaps you could expand on your perception of them a bit more? You call the reforms in 1993 "phenomenal," which seems to be inevitable based on a change of a law enacted 50 years earlier in pre-war 1942 .

[torakris]

I just paid 4480 yen for 10kg of Kirara 397, that is a good 1,000yen more than what I would have paid at this time last year. I think we are going to be eating a lot more Jasmine rice which I can buy for 1800 yen per 5 kg......

I could really go for some cheap imported rice right now.

[pirate]

I'd like to bring to the attention of the forum an article which appeared June 19. 2000 in the

Japan Times online. The article is:

Sure, Japanese rice is expensive -- you're paying for all the chemicals

by Stephen Hesse

It's an eyeopener. At the end of the article there is an email address for the author

steve@tamacc.chuo-u.ac.jp

[torakris]

I'd like to bring to the attention of the forum an article which appeared June 19. 2000 in the

Japan Times online. The article is:

Sure, Japanese rice is expensive -- you're paying for all the chemicals

by Stephen Hesse

It's an eyeopener. At the end of the article there is an email address for the author

steve@tamacc.chuo-u.ac.jp

here is the link to the article:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getart...e20000619sh.htm

it really is an eye opener....

[pirate]

Hiroyuki: I'm looking forward to your comments. In the meantime this is quoted from the Roppongi Hills Club website. Apparentlly there is organic rice. Is there a certification process for organic rice in Japan?

"The sushi rice served at Roppongi Hills Club", Chef Nakazato tells us, "is a special blend made by Mr. Saito, who supplies us based on our special requests. He owns Saito Sake in Chiba Prefecture. He uses mostly organic Koshihikari grain. Each harvest, he makes his strict selection from amongst high quality rice offerings and then exquisitely blends them with premium quality Hinohikari sweet rice from Saga Prefecture." The rice from Mr. Saito's blend is in optimal condition by virtue of his time-honoured blending techniques, which provide a balance between the tastes, flavours, and moistures of the large-grained organic rices. When such rice is cooked and served, the ball of sushi rice delicately separates in the mouth, and each bite liberates its full earthy flavour.

[Hiroyuki]

Is there a certification process for organic rice in Japan?

Yes, there is.

In April 2001 (quite recently),

有機JAS法 Yu-u-ki JAS (pronounced "jas", not J-A-S) Hoh (Organic JAS Law)

was put into effect.

Organic products have this mark, 有機JASマーク, yu-u-ki JAS mark, on them:

http://www.no1yuki.com/yukijas.html

You see the green mark in the middle. That's the one.

Don't trust anyone until you see the mark.

The term 有機 yu-u-ki (organic) used to be abused so much. Even today, there are so many people who just don't know the exact definition of that term. There used to be farmers who claimed their farm products were "organic" just because they used organic fertilizers, and there used to be supermarkets selling vegetables mislabeled as organic ones.

I read the Japanese version of the Roppongi Hills Club message

http://www.roppongihillsclub.com/essence/vol12/index.html#1

Full of beautiful words, but no mention of the yu-u-ki JAS mark. Ask them if they use the real organic rice (有機米 yu-u-ki ma-i).

Needless to say, there are frauds:

http://www.no1yuki.com/yukijas.html#fusei

I found one organic rice store on the web:

http://www.no1yuki.com/index.html

This stores deals in this rice, from the United States:

http://www.lundberg.com/

Prices:

http://www.no1yuki.com/syohin.html

Related information:

Japan Organic Inspectors Association (not much useful information, though)

http://www.ops.dti.ne.jp/~joia/english_pages/index_e.html

There are three levels of cultivation with low or no agricultural chemicals:

1) 有機 yu-u-ki, just mentioned above

2) 無農薬 mu-nouyaku (no agricultural chemicals)

3) 減農薬 gen-nouyaku (reduced agricultural chemicals)

有機 has the stringent rules. Farm products cultivated with the other two levels must NOT have the 有機JAS マーク, mentioned above.

The other subject:

Before I can give you any meaningful comments, you'll have to answer the question:

You thought that the article was an eye-opener because 1) it made you realize that Japanese rice was expensive because of excessive use of chemicals OR because 2) it made you realize that Japanese rice contained a lot of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and was hazardous. Which is it? Or, both?

At this point, let me point out the following:

1) The high price of Japanese rice is a "structural problem". It's not something that you can solve by fixing a single element alone. The cost of chemicals (probably) accounts for a fraction of the total rice production cost. I have no data available at the moment to prove this, though.

2) The article is dated June 19, 2000; simply "outdated". We are in 2004. We all know more about EDCs (EDCs are more commonly known in Japan as 環境ホルモン kankyo hormones). We all know that they are hazardous. We all know that agricultural chemicals are sources of EDCs, but we also know that other foods, especially fish, are major sources of such hazardous substances.

My personal opinion is this: In this highly industrialized society of ours, we cannot escape from the hazard of such substances (and food additives). You can live in the mountains and lead a healthy, self-sufficient life, free from all those substances, getting away from it all. But I can't. The 20th century was a century of expansion. The 21st century will be an environmental century, a green century, and above all, a "golden century". We are in the middle of the transition to a better world. But, in the meantime, we are the victims of those substances.

What do you say?

Waiting for a reply.

Edited April 6, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Hiroyuki]

I found two sites (both in Japanese):

http://www.maisen.co.jp/genmai.html

This tells you that brown rice 玄米 gen-mai has the capability of removing kankyo hormones and food additives from your body (at the bottom of the page).

http://www.gohan.ne.jp/okome-data/01/123.html

This tells you that rice is grown with no fertilizers or agricultural chemicals in Thiland.

Wanna try?

Edited April 6, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Do you know this site:

http://www.gohan.ne.jp/okome-data/komedb.html

お米データベース

A complete database on rice.

The problem is..., it's entirely in Japanese!

[Hiroyuki]

I just came home from shopping. I bought 10-kg, 100% Shiozawa-san Koshihikari brown rice for 5,600 yen, and milled it into white rice by myself at a 100-yen rice mill (100円精米所 100-yen se-i-ma-i-jo) nearby.

When you mill brown rice into white one, the rice reduces by about 10% in weight. Just for your reference.

***

Sorry, pirate, I still cannot take a photo of the label you wanted to see.

Edited April 6, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[JC]

All I can think of now is that "wow, rice in Japan is expensive!".

Here in Malaysia we can get a 10kg bag of top-grade Thai jasmine rice for about 900 yen. But most folks use a local grade that is only 450-500 yen per 10kg bag.

[helenjp]

450-500 yen per 10kg bag

Groan! I remembered that I had a bunch of rice coupons, so I used it to buy a 10kg bag of Niigata Koshi-ibuki yesterday. The labeling seemed a big ambiguous about the actual date of the rice crop, and it's not the most popular variety, but even so, the coupons weren't quite enough. 5,800 yen for 10kg...

[Hiroyuki]

No doubt about it: The rice in Japan is expensive.

But I'm not in despair. There are signs of hope.

Japan will not be able to sustain all of its high-cost structures in the near future, or it will go bankrupt.

The change from the obsolete Shokkan Ho to the new Shokuryo Ho in 1994 (effective in 1995) was largely due to the poor crop of the previous year (1993). It was the "weather" that caused that change. What we Japanese now need is a change from within ourselves.

Let me point out that the average annual salary in Japan is 4 million and 470 thousand (4,470,000) yen in 2002, including bonuses. It's been on the decrease for five years in a row.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/atmoney/mnews/20031229mh02.htm

(in Japanese)

An analyst says that the salaries of a majority of Japanese will further go down to the 3 million yen level. It is then that Japanese will make a change from within themselves. That's what I hope.

Japan could do with a revolution or two. Don't you think?

[JC]

Hiroyuki,

Just found this thread and it's very interesting.

Just wondering, does everyone in your town eat Uonuma-san Koshihikari rice? Or is it more like a luxury?

Is the rice cooked the normal way using a rice cooker?

[Hiroyuki]

does everyone in your town eat Uonuma-san Koshihikari rice? Or is it more like a luxury?

Is the rice cooked the normal way using a rice cooker?

1) Not everyone, I suppose. I think every farmer eats their own Koshihikari rice. Some people other than farmers get Koshihikari rice from relatives, friends, acquaintances, and so on. Others buy rice at supermarkets, rice stores, and so on.

It's not much of a luxury, but obviously we all know that our Koshihikari rice is expensive, even to us.

2) Oh, yes. Just the normal way. But I always use utmost care, because, you know, it's almost twice as expensive as normal Japanese rice.

[Hiroyuki]

Pirate:

I think you have three options:

1) Go to a rice store run by a knowledgeable proprietor, such as Suzunobu, and get a 2-kg bag of Uonuma-san Koshihikari rice. I guess it will cost up to 2,400 yen (up to 1,200 per kilogram).

2) Forget about Koshihikari rice and switch to another variety or type, such as Sasanishiki rice and organic rice. Uonuma-san Koshihikari rice is not the only brand with a toku A (特A) rating. Ask a sales clerk for more information.

3) Forget about buying Japanese rice. Just enjoy eating sushi and other Japanese foods while you are in Japan.

***

1) Rice starts to oxidize as soon as it is milled. Preferably, therefore, the bag of rice you are going to buy should be nitrogen-filled to keep the rice fresh. But I wonder if there is a rice store that offers such a service.

2) Once you buy a bag of rice, then you have to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for turning it into nice and hot gohan (cooked rice). Do you know everything you need to do that? I wonder if you have a rice cooker.

Good rice is like a good wine. It's something to be savored, not just to be eaten. Put a mouthful of rice into your mouth with your chopsticks and munch without any other food. Enjoy the taste. And then, you can put other food into your month and enjoy the harmony. You may want to make rice balls, putting some salt on their surface. They are called shi-o-mu-su-bi (塩むすび), rice balls with salt only. They are very yummy, and you can tell the difference in taste when you eat rice this way.

I think it's early to say this, but let me say Bon Voyage!!

[naguere]

New seasons rice, is this a gormet delicacy? I believe it is, and would like to know more.

[Hiroyuki]

New seasons rice, is this a gormet delicacy? I believe it is, and would like to know more.

I'm not sure if I have understood your comment right, but let me tell you about shin-mai, ko-mai, ko-ko-mai, and on.

The rice harvested in the fall of a particular year is called the shin-mai (literally, new rice) of that year. The rice harvested in the fall of the previous year is then regarded as ko-mai (old rice), the rice harvested in the fall of the year before the previous is regarded as ko-ko-mai (old, old rice), and so on.

Most Japanese usually eat shin-mai, which is not a gourmet delicacy. This particular year, because of last year's poor crop, shin-mai is 20-30% higher than usual in price. Bichiku-mai (government-controlled, stockpiled price) is sold at supermarkets and other stores, unlike in other years, as well as shin-mai and blend mai (which refers to a blend of different varieties of rice, which may include ko-mai).

Edited May 7, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[torakris]

Like Hiroyuki said, I wouldn't call shin-mai (new rice) a gourmet delicacy, it is just something you look forward to in the fall....

[Hiroyuki]

This morning, I ate Koshiibuki (not Koshihikari) rice for the first time. It's a new variety deriving from Koshihikari. Bags of that rice were on sale at a local supermarket, and my wife bought one. Price? A 10-kg bag cost 3,880 yen.

I found it good and much lighter than Koshihikari.

EDIT:

Now I'm happy that I don't necessarily have to depend on expensive Koshihirari rice.

Edited June 2, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[pirate]

Here's an interesting article on identifying koshihikari rice.

http://www.asahi.com/english/business/TKY200406230151.html

I believe there is a Japanese version.

[torakris]

I think I need to find the Japanese version bceause there is either a major typo or they are doubling the price when it gets to the market level.

In my area those are prices for 30, possibly 40 kilograms of rice.....

the article says:

According to recent bidding prices, while the nation's average price for rice is around 18,700 yen per 60 kilograms, koshihikari from Niigata sells for about 21,900 yen, and the choicest Uonuma koshihikari nets 31,300 yen.

Interesting article though.

[Hiroyuki]

Here is a Japanese version, if anyone is interested:

http://www.asahi.com/science/update/0609/003.html

[Pompollo]

The prices mentioned in the article are definitely wholesale prices. I wish I could buy!!

I found a site that sells Niigata Koshihikari. A 5kg bag of Ounuma (the most expensive kind) sells for 4,100 yen. For 60 kgs this would amount to 49,200yen. (The article says 60kgs went for 31,300 yen.)

Anyway, it's a lot more than I pay for the off-brand kinds that are on sale whenever I buy.... But now after reading this I am tempted to try this fancy stuff and see if I can notice the quality. But before I do, I really need to invest about 30,000 yen in a fancy rice cooker with all kinds of sensors, invertors, and a 7-layered, copper lined inner pot.

My 10+ year National is on its last legs.