[Vigilanteman]

Is Japan back to keeping out rice from foreign countries? I haven't lived there since 2002. I don't recall the year, but it was maybe 1993 when Japan had a terrible rice harvest and decided to allow rice imports in response to world pressure.

Of course, the limited supply of Japanese rice was the first to get bought up at the markets, even though it was premium priced. The California rice followed not long afterward. Then the Australian rice. The Thai rice was hard to move. By the following spring, they were clearing out 5 kg bags of the stuff for 300 yen (versus 1200 or 1300 yen for the then non-existent local stuff). I bought some, took it home and had my wife fix it with the normal meal. The kids took a couple of bites and then refused to eat it.

Fast forward to 2002, when we moved back to the United States, I bought some of that normal white bread at the market. Same reaction from the kids.

[muawiyah]

Regarding "bread", the Japanese have a decided taste for a bit of sugar in it. So that's probably what your kids had gotten used to if they ate the local stuff.

Still, people like what they are used to. Sticky rice is, of course, as tasty as any rice, but the loose rice works better with gravy. I have a bag of Japanese sweet rice and can instantly whip up a batch of mochi