Rice 米: There are so many types of rice in the Japanese grocery store, how do you know what you are getting? Well, to start with remember that Japanese rice is going to be short-grained, although some long or medium grain may also be imported.
Well let me touch on some basics on reading the rice labels in stores. I will update with some pictures in a bit, but I will try to get you started.
精米 polished (white) rice
玄米 unpolished (brown) rice
-産: where it is from
examples: 国内産 domestic (Japan), 福島県産 Fukushima Prefecture, 沖縄県産 Okinawa Prefecture, 新潟県産 Niigata Prefecture
精米年月日 date of rice polishing
産年 production year
新米 newly harvested rice
*** These years are in Japanese calendar, NOT western! So the year 2016 is 28年, 2015 is 27年, 2014 is 26年. Older rice tends to be discounted, so keep in mind you usually get what you pay for.
単一原料米 single-source rice (100% from 1 place)
複数原料米 multiple-source rice (from different places)
*** -割 indicates RATIOS (by 10’s). so 10割 is 100%, 6割 is 60%, 1割 is 10%, etc.
販売者 seller’s name (company)
内容量 contents volume
Some popular types of rice: (I will add some better descriptions later… gomennasai)
こしひかり (コシヒカリ) Koshihikari
ささにしき Sasanishiki
ひとめぼれ Hitomebore
もち米 Mochi-rice (glutinous rice, this is really more for sweets)
無洗米 no-wash rice
Later I will update this post with some of the mix-ins you can buy and which grains they contain… these are a great way to add nutrition to you average bowl of rice.