Setsubun Festival is coming soon. There are unique foods eaten on that day. Near Biwa Lake there are some delicious foods that make Setsubun even more exciting!

On a pleasant Sunday in June, I participated in a unique one-day rice planting experience with my son. Even for Japanese, the average person rarely gets to plant rice themselves, so I’d like to share my experience.

Every Japanese household has a rice cooker. Considering they eat rice once or more almost everyday, a machine that cooks rice perfectly and automatically is truly a convenience.

“Let’s go grab a cheap gyu-don lunch”. That was something I often did when I was still new to this country. For me, gyu-don is THE Japanese fast food.

Onigiri is from the Japanese word “Nigiri”, which means grip. It is made from Japanese white rice formed into cylinder shapes and wraped in nori (seaweed in Japanese).

Koshihikari (lit. translated “light of Koshi” – an old province within Fukui and Yamagata) was first cultivated in 1956 in an agricultural research facility in Fukui and is said to be the most popular and highly grown type of rice in Japan.