Have you ever seen a Japanese Rice cooker and thought "Wow! it looks like a space ship! But how am I meant to cook rice in this?". If so this is the right guide for you!
When I arrived in Japan, I felt a HUGE change in my diet. From a High protein + Vegetable, Medium Carbohydrate and Low fat diet to a High Carbohydrate, not much else diet. This has changed a lot about me and I have had to re-train my innards to cope. Also it has made me train myself how to cook the best rice and what varieties to choose!
Read read below to learn some vocabulary you will need to survive in Japan, survive using a Japanese rice cooker and survive on delicious rice!
Now first the Japanese word for Rice cooker: Sui - Han- Ki
When I arrived in Japan, I felt a HUGE change in my diet. From a High protein + Vegetable, Medium Carbohydrate and Low fat diet to a High Carbohydrate, not much else diet. This has changed a lot about me and I have had to re-train my innards to cope. Also it has made me train myself how to cook the best rice and what varieties to choose!
Read read below to learn some vocabulary you will need to survive in Japan, survive using a Japanese rice cooker and survive on delicious rice!
Now first the Japanese word for Rice cooker: Sui - Han- Ki
炊飯器
すい はん き
炊 - Cooking
飯 - Rice
器 - Tool
すい はん き
炊 - Cooking
飯 - Rice
器 - Tool
Pretty logical right?
So you are in Japan and you bought a Japanese Rice cooker. Say what? All the buttons are in Japanese? Have no fear, your teacher is here!! Before you know it you will have rice in your bowel and be programming you rice cooker to cook rice for you in advance! GUARANTEED!
Note: Although the above are super useful Kanji, I wouldn't recommend learning them right now if your struggling with the basics. Just remember how to say "rice cooker" and recognize these Kanji for now, until we begin Heisig training. Also, from now on I will refer to rice cookers by the Japanese word "Suihanki" to familiarise you with it.
Note: The word for Food and Rice share the same character in Japanese, so you can imagine rice is pretty important to the Japanese.
Note: Although the above are super useful Kanji, I wouldn't recommend learning them right now if your struggling with the basics. Just remember how to say "rice cooker" and recognize these Kanji for now, until we begin Heisig training. Also, from now on I will refer to rice cookers by the Japanese word "Suihanki" to familiarise you with it.
Note: The word for Food and Rice share the same character in Japanese, so you can imagine rice is pretty important to the Japanese.
Getting to know your Suihanki
From first glance you probably realized that my Suihanki is second hand. I am a poor Gaijin who took advantage of my situation upon arriving here. March and April are the busiest months of the year in the Japanese calendar. Jobs are starting, People are moving and Graduations are happening. Through my connections i sourced a Suihanki of a friend of a friend of mine for FREE! However, reasonable priced and better looking ones are available at supermarkets and electrical stores for around 6000円.
On the front there are a great number of buttons inscribed with Japanese writing... and if you look at it long enough.. you can almost see a slim-line spaceship.. which is in star(trec)k contrast to the fat UFO type Suihanki most commonly used back home.
On the front there are a great number of buttons inscribed with Japanese writing... and if you look at it long enough.. you can almost see a slim-line spaceship.. which is in star(trec)k contrast to the fat UFO type Suihanki most commonly used back home.
Starting from the left and working right.. 切/つややか 保温 きる/つややか ほおん Off/ Warm 硬さ かたさ Firmness 予約 1-2 よやく Program 時/分 じ/ぶん Hours/ Minutes | 無洗米 むせんまい Pre-Washed Rice かんたん タイマー May be written as : 簡単タイマー Easy Timer メンユー Menu 炊飯/お急ぎ2度押 すいはん/おいそぎ2どおす Cook Rice/ Hurried 2 Button Push |
The Buttons
As you can see above there is a wide variety of buttons, however the buttons you will probably use the most are:
炊飯 - Cook
切 - Off
保温 - Warm
Which if you remember from the Western Rice cooker, these are the 3 options available.
炊飯 - Cook
切 - Off
保温 - Warm
Which if you remember from the Western Rice cooker, these are the 3 options available.
The Screen
ふつう - Normal かため - Hard やわらか - Soft 予約1 - Program 1 予約2 - Program 2 | 無洗米 - Pre-Washed Rice 白 米 - White Rice 炊込み (たきこみ) - おかゆ - Rice Porage お急ぎ - In a hurry |
Again there is a number of options in the menu, however unless your an experienced user you will probably only be using the following options:
ふつう - Normal
白 米 - White Rice
ふつう - Normal
白 米 - White Rice
Recap
- The Japanese Word for Rice Cooker is Suihanki
- There are various buttons on the front of the rice cooker however the 3 most important buttons are: Cook, Off and Warm. Please find these on your cooker now
- There are various option on the rice cooker's screen however the most important options are: Normal and White rice. Please find these on your cooker now
Now you have a reference Guide to understanding your Rice cooker! Please check over your ice cooker to see if you have the same buttons! If you liked this guide please don't forget to share this post, put a link on a website or link to me in a forum. If you have any Other or new buttons please leave me a comment below and I will try my best to get back to you!