---
title: "Cooking Japanese rice at home, outside Japan"
description: "Which rice to buy, how to read a Japanese rice bag, how to measure without a gō cup, and how to cook the rice in an ordinary pot when there is no rice cooker."
url: https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
language: en
published: 2026-11-11
category: "Food and culture › Rice and rice dishes"
tags: ["RiceDishes"]
author: "Oginoya Editorial Team"
publisher: "Oginoya Co., Ltd."
translations:
  zh-TW: https://kama-meshi.com/zh-tw/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  ko: https://kama-meshi.com/ko/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  zh-CN: https://kama-meshi.com/zh-cn/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  zh-HK: https://kama-meshi.com/zh-hk/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  th: https://kama-meshi.com/th/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  de: https://kama-meshi.com/de/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  fr: https://kama-meshi.com/fr/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
  es: https://kama-meshi.com/es/articles/japanese-rice-at-home
---

# Cooking Japanese rice at home, outside Japan

![Bags of rice printed 魚沼産 こしひかり and 新潟産 こしひかり on a wire shelf in a supermarket, beside a pink bag printed MEDIUM GRAIN](https://kama-meshi.com/_astro/koshihikari-bags-2022.CcLMwCtg_Z1XrhDC.webp)

Rice like the rice eaten in Japan starts with short-grain japonica, either exported from Japan or grown in another country, and it needs no rice cooker. Any pot with a lid will cook it, with water measured at 1.2 times the volume of the rice: about 10 minutes to reach the boil, 5 minutes of boiling, 10 to 15 minutes on low heat and 10 minutes of rest with the heat off.

## Which rice to buy

Japanese rice is [japonica](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/japanese-rice-varieties), whose short, rounded grains turn sticky when cooked. Japonica is grown in Japan, on the Korean Peninsula, in Taiwan and northern China, and also in Brazil and California.

The United States grows long-grain indica and both short-grain and medium-grain japonica. The typical American medium grain is Calrose, whose character falls between short grain and long grain.

## Rice exported from Japan

Japan exported 46,573 tonnes of rice commercially in 2025, about 2.4 times the 19,781 tonnes of 2020. Hong Kong, the United States and Singapore received the largest amounts.

| Destination | 2020 (tonnes) | 2025 (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | 6,978 | 13,522 |
| United States | 1,989 | 9,896 |
| Singapore | 3,696 | 6,361 |
| Taiwan | 2,004 | 3,329 |
| Thailand | 555 | 2,862 |
| Canada | 205 | 1,902 |
| Australia | 1,074 | 1,253 |
| United Kingdom | 451 | 1,093 |
| Germany | 144 | 749 |
| Spain | 7 | 579 |
| France | 112 | 553 |

## Reading a Japanese rice bag

Rice bagged for sale to consumers in Japan carries a label with five entries: the name, the source rice, the net weight, the milling date and the seller.

- **名称 (name).** 精米 or うるち精米 is milled white rice, 玄米 is brown rice, and もち精米 is milled glutinous rice.
- **原料玄米 (source rice).** 単一原料米 means rice of a single growing area, variety and crop year, and the label lists all three. 複数原料米 means a blend, and the label lists the origins and their proportions.
- **精米時期 (milling date).** The label gives a full date, or a year and month with a third of the month: 上旬 is the 1st to the 10th, 中旬 the 11th to the 20th, and 下旬 the 21st to the last day.

Rice loses flavor as time passes after milling. White rice kept at room temperature tastes good for about a month, for two to three months in winter, and for two to three weeks in midsummer and the rainy season.

無洗米 (*musenmai*), no-wash rice, goes into the pot unwashed: a special milling process has already removed the bran that ordinary milling leaves on the grain. No-wash rice is cooked with a little more water than ordinary rice.

## Measuring without a gō cup

Rice in Japan is measured in [*gō*](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/rice-measures). One gō is a tenth of a *shō*, about 180 mL, and the cup supplied with a rice cooker holds one gō. An ordinary Japanese measuring cup for cooking holds 200 mL.

![A translucent plastic measuring cup on a wooden table in front of a green electric rice cooker](https://kama-meshi.com/_astro/rice-cup-180ml-2018.BPycFhnw_lf08T.webp "A 180 mL rice measuring cup, 2018.")

| | 1 gō (180 mL) | 200 mL |
|---|---|---|
| White rice | 150 g | 170 g |
| No-wash rice | 160 g | 180 g |

The standard amount of water is 1.2 times the volume of the dry rice, measured with the same cup as the rice. On a scale, water is added to the washed rice until the rice and water together weigh 2.5 times as much as the dry rice. With neither a rice measuring cup nor a scale, the rice is washed and drained, its volume is checked in any container, and water equal in volume to that washed, drained rice goes into the pot with it.

## Cooking in a pot

The pot that suits best has thick walls, a heavy lid that closes tightly and enough depth for the amount of rice.

1. Wash the rice and soak it in the measured water for at least 30 minutes.
2. Set the pot on medium heat and raise the heat to high, so that the water reaches the boil in about 10 minutes.
3. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium and keep it boiling for about 5 minutes.
4. Turn the heat to low for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and leave the lid on for about 10 minutes.
6. Take off the lid and loosen the rice.

The climb to the boil should take about 10 minutes whatever the amount of rice. A small amount of rice tends to boil sooner, and the flame is adjusted to hold to the 10 minutes. A toasty smell and a crackling sound from the pot mean that a browned crust, *okoge*, has formed on the bottom. The reasons for washing, soaking and resting are explained in [how rice is cooked in Japan](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/how-rice-is-cooked).

## Hard and soft water

Hard water holds a large amount of calcium and magnesium. Ordinary river water and tap water in Japan measure 2 to 3 degrees on the German scale of hardness, and by a classification used in Japan, water of 10 degrees or less is called soft and water of 20 degrees or more is called hard.

Calcium and similar minerals in hard water keep rice from absorbing water, and the rice tends to come out dry and hard. Cooked rice sold in sealed packs gets around the hurdles of cooking rice abroad, such as having no rice cooker, soft water being hard to obtain and high altitude.

## Keeping rice, raw and cooked

A place at 10 to 15°C, with little humidity and no direct sunlight, suits raw rice. The ideal place is the refrigerator, where rice keeps for about three months. The air inside a refrigerator is dry, so the rice goes into a plastic bottle or an airtight container. When rice has been stored for a long time, rubbing the grains together during washing removes oxidized fat from their surface.

Leftover cooked rice is better frozen than kept warm in a rice cooker. The rice is divided while still warm into flat portions of one bowl, about 150 g, wrapped loosely in plastic wrap with its steam, cooled and frozen. As rice cools, its starch changes into a form that tastes worse, which is why the rice is wrapped warm.

## From the pot to the table

Plain cooked rice is the starting point for [onigiri](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/onigiri), [donburi](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/donburi) and the other [Japanese rice dishes](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/japanese-rice-dishes). The rice in Tōge no Kamameshi, Oginoya's ekiben from Yokokawa Station, is Koshihikari, mainly from Azumino in Nagano Prefecture. Oginoya mills the rice itself and packs the cooked rice into a Mashiko ware pot under [nine toppings](https://kama-meshi.com/en/articles/nine-toppings).

## References

- [Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Cooking properties of rice"](https://www.maff.go.jp/j/syouan/keikaku/soukatu/okome_summary/02/charact_eristic_01.html)
- [Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Rice export results" (PDF)](https://www.maff.go.jp/j/syouan/keikaku/soukatu/kome_yusyutu/attach/pdf/kome_yusyutu-850.pdf)
- [Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "The situation surrounding rice exports" (PDF)](https://www.maff.go.jp/j/syouan/keikaku/soukatu/kome_yusyutu/attach/pdf/kome_yusyutu-858.pdf)
- [Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Children's Q&A, "Rice around the world by region"](https://www.maff.go.jp/j/heya/kodomo_sodan/0211/01.html)
- [Rice Stable Supply Support Organization, Rice and Cooked Rice Book (PDF)](https://www.komenet.jp/nandemobook/documents/ip_web_1-32.pdf)
- [Rice Stable Supply Support Organization, Rice Q&A, on storing rice](https://www.komenet.jp/faq/ip08.html)
- [Rice Stable Supply Support Organization, Rice Q&A, on cooked rice](https://www.komenet.jp/faq/ip13.html)
- [City of Osaka, "Rice cooked in a pot" (PDF)](https://www.city.osaka.lg.jp/kenko/cmsfiles/contents/0000248/248454/gohan.pdf)
- [Chiba Prefecture, "Labeling of bagged brown and milled rice under the Food Labeling Act" (PDF)](https://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/annou/hyouji/documents/r7hukurodume.pdf)
- [Kotobank, "Ine" (rice plant)](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%81%AD-3143259)
- [Kotobank, "Gō"](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%90%88-61351)
- [Kotobank, "Kōsui" (hard water)](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%A1%AC%E6%B0%B4-62396)
- [Toshiba Lifestyle, "Water hardness and rice cooking"](https://www.toshiba-lifestyle.com/jp/rice-cookers/feature/2023_water)
- [Oginoya online shop, "What makes Tōge no Kamameshi taste the way it does"](https://ec.oginoya.co.jp/pages/reason)

Image credits (resized for display):

- [Zheng Zhou / Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koshihikari_Rice_from_Uonuma_(left)_and_Niigata_(right).jpg), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), 2022
- [Yel D'ohan / Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:180_mL_rice_cup.jpg), [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en), 2018