The Japanese words omusubi and onigiri are usually translated as “rice ball,” but there’s no rule that they have to be round. Walk into any convenience store or supermarket in Japan and you’ll find the shelves stocked with triangular versions, plus plenty that look closer to a soft-edged hockey puck than a perfectly spherical ball.

What we’re saying is that when it comes to omusubi design, your options are wide open, and with this kitty-shaped omusubi kit, they’re adorable as well.

You can thank kitchen tool maker Earnest for this clever product, called Omusubi Nyan (nyan being the sound of a cat meowing in Japanese).

The most important part of the multi-piece set is the cat-shaped rice mold, pictured on the far right above. Fill up a scoop of rice, press down to pack all of the grains together firmly, then drop out a perfectly shaped serving.

If you want to add additional fine feline features, you can use the included cutters on a sheet of dried nori seaweed to produce whiskers, smiles, and more.

Don’t worry about the leftover seaweed going to waste, either. You can also reverse the color scheme by wrapping the whole rice ball in the remaining nori after you remove the cutouts, giving you a charming kitty with dark hair and light detailing from the rice peeking out from beneath.

Need more color? Just add a dab of soy sauce to create a spotted coat.

Omusubi Nyan can be ordered here from Amazon Japan for 883 yen (US$7). That’s already an attractive price for cat lovers, and if you factor in how much cheaper it is to make your own omusubi than it is to buy them at the store for 120 yen or so a pop, it’ll actually pay for itself after about a week’s worth of lunches.

Source: Amazon Japan
Top image: Amazon Japan (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Amazon Japan

Origin: Turn rice balls into rice kitties with this adorable omusubi kit!
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Oh, babies. Their chubby little malleable faces bring so much joy to everyone around them… When the babies themselves are not screaming and crying of course.

One Japanese father recently recorded himself turning his baby daughter’s face into a handheld “rice ball,” which quickly went viral for being ridiculously adorable. Since then he’s been getting nonstop requests from other parents begging to know how he did his cute trick, and now, for the first time, he’s finally revealed it in video form.

Watch and be prepared to be assaulted with cuteness like never before.

The father with a knack for making fleshy “rice balls” is actually the well-known Japanese comedian Ehara Masahiro, so it’s no surprise that he’s good at creating comedy gold with a partner… even if that partner is an infant.

Here are the tweets that started it all:

▼ I think I’ll buy a different one, this one’s a little squished.

むぎゅー http://t.co/i1FbWpp3Pn

—
エハラマサヒロ (@eharamasahiro) June 18, 2015

▼ Ah! Much fresher!

ひょー！！ http://t.co/GrzYnM3G4z

—
エハラマサヒロ (@eharamasahiro) June 18, 2015

The real beauty of the babyface “rice ball” is in its simplicity. It’s just a baby’s face (gently!) squished between two hands… and yet we can’t look away!

Amid cries of “cute!” and “I’m becoming an even bigger fan of your daughter than I am of you,” many netizens begged to know how he perfected the art of face-squeezing in the first place. That prompted the posting of this video on Instagram:

What you hear in the video is him laughing “she’s making such a miserable face!” The girl clearly knows what’s up and is just waiting for dad to finish making her look like a silly rice ball in front of the whole internet.

The video may not have a ton in the way of explanation, so Ehara added this helpful piece of advice: “You just put both your hands together.” Aha! Now we get it.

Japanese net users of course leaped at the chance to “rice ball-ify” their own children and posted about the results:

“I tried copying what Ehara-san did and the face was priceless!”
“The baby didn’t have enough cheek to make a good rice ball, but it was still cute.”
“I gave it a go and got a perfect rice ball first try. So cute!”
“I was surprised the baby didn’t hate it. Far from it, she laughed and loved it!”

Well that’s all we need to hear. So come on RocketNews24 readers out there with babies, go forth and “rice ball-ify” your children! Or, if you don’t have children, why not turn your friends and family into “rice balls” instead? And don’t forget to post the pictures in the comments section.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News via Hachima Kiko
Featured/top image: Twitter (1, 2) (Edited by RocketNews24)

Origin: “Rice ball” baby face is so cute we want to eat it all up
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Walk into any Japanese convenience store or supermarket, and you’ll find a row of rice balls waiting. You can always count on the old standards, such as salmon, pickled plum, and spicy cod roe being represented, but each store also sets aside a bit of shelf space for unique, limited-time versions as well.

In the past, this form of carbohydrate-packed one-upmanship has given us such wonders as the bacon cheeseburger musubi and headscratchers as the fish butt onigiri (musubi being one of the Japanese words for “rice ball,” and onigiri the other). It’s always a flip of the culinary coin whether these outside-the-box rice balls are going to be a hit or a miss, but when we heard about ramen-style onigiri, we were immediately onboard.

Although you won’t spot too many NewDays locations walking around the streets of Tokyo, you’ll find plenty of them inside and attached to train stations. That’s because the convenience store chain is owned and operated by rail company JR East, and you can generally find a branch in most mid-sized JR stations in eastern Japan, and often multiple stores in the larger rail hubs.

Onigiri are especially big sellers at NewDays, as the compact, handheld morsels are great for when you’ve got a rumbling in your stomach but are smack dab in the middle of trying to get from Point A to Point B. Right now, NewDays is offering three special kinds of rice balls, all with some sort of connection to Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

Pictured at the bottom left and bottom right of our triangle of rice balls are NewDays’ miso ramen-style onigiri (in red) and soy broth ramen-style onigiri (in blue), priced at 153 and 160 yen (US$1.22 and $1.28), respectively. Both were created under the guidance of popular Sapporo ramen restaurant Sumire.

NewDays’ third Hokkaido-themed rice ball, seen at the top of the above photo, is the 150-yen soup curry-style rice ball. The thin curry is another specialty of Sapporo, and providing assistance this time is Magic Spice, a well-known soup curry restaurant in Hokkaido’s largest city.

We decided to start off with the soup curry onigiri, which thankfully isn’t as soggy as the name might make you fear. The mixture of steamed chicken and keema curry is nice and moist, though, and when you bite into a mouthful of it along with the turmeric rice, it’s about the highest quality rice ball with curry that you’ll find.

Next up we tried the soy broth ramen onigiri. As you can see, there aren’t any actual noodles here, but there is a nice cut of chashu, the sliced pork that commonly tops a bowl of ramen. The rice itself is prepared in the takkikomi gohan style, seasoned with ramen broth as it’s steamed, and it’s not too far off from its inspiration.

Finally, it was time for the miso ramen rice ball. Once again, the rice is seasoned with miso while cooking. It’s actually got a pleasing spiciness to it, and the nori seaweed wrapping and bits of miso covered meat inside add even more flavor.

So in the end, NewDays’ went three for three with its Hokkaido-themed onigiri. Granted, there’s no actual soup or noodles to be found in these soup curry and ramen-style rice balls, but if you’re after a snack and not a linguistics lesson, you can’t go wrong with any of the trio.

Photos: ©RocketNews24

Origin: Japan Railways recently revealed ramen-style rice balls in its convenience stores
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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• Enjoy Your Ramen with a Side of Panties During the Hentai Ramen Event

There isn’t enough praise we can give to Japanese convenience stores because they provide exactly what their name suggests, convenience. They stock all sorts of snack foods, expertly pre-prepared meals, and a wide selection of delicious rice balls. Those tasty onigiri are the perfect snack, portable, tasty and with very little waste.

But sometimes you are just so hungry that you need to be eating that onigiri right then and there. You try to quickly open the package, but it all just gets mangled instead. Fear not! RocketNews24 will show you how to open an onigiri in only one second. You won’t want to miss this video after the jump.

For someone who has never eaten an onigiri from the store before, they can be a little confusing to open. The casual diner won’t expect there to be tabs and numbered instructions, so they just sort of start pulling on things until the plastic and rice eventually falls apart in their hands. It doesn’t seem easy at first until someone comes along and points out that the packaging tells you how to open it. After all, in Japan, if it’s not easy to open, you’re probably doing it wrong.

▼ Pull the corners starting with 一 (one), 二 (two), and finally 三 (three)

As you can see, the triangular onigiri is opened by a three-step process. You pull the center tab, pull each of the sides out, and then you can start eating. But what if you could turn, “One, two, three, eat,” into, “One, eat”? It might seem impossible, but it’s actually quite easy. Just pull on the sides at the same time you are pulling the center tab. How do you accomplish that exactly? Let us show you.

With the help of your friends, you can be eating convenience store onigiri in one second flat! It’s probably going to take a bit of practice, so go grab a bunch of onigiri, gather some of your friends, and try it out! Just be sure not to waste any of the onigiri, because they are delicious.

▼ Crazy delicious!

Images: ©RocketNews24

Origin: The fastest way to open an onigiri will only take one second 【Video】
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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• Make your best-tasting onigiri taste even better with this easy recipe! 【RocketKitchen】
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Everyone knows and loves onigiri, or rice balls. They’re the perfect portable snack, available in every conbini with a wide range of different fillings. But some of us have grown tired of the same old snack. Thus, the “onigirazu” was born! We’ll show you how to make it right here!

The “Onigirazu” is so-called because instead of shaping the snack with your hands (nigiru), you simply sandwich the filling between two flat pieces of seaweed-coated rice. (The -zu form of verbs indicates a negative.) We introduced the new style a while back, but the snack has become so super-popular in Japan that we decided it was time to make our own and share our secret recipe with the good readers of RocketNews24!

While onigirazu is currently going through something of a “boom” of popularity of Japan, it turns out that the snack isn’t actually new at all. It debuted in the culinary manga Cooking Papa way back in 1991! The onigirazu might be older than some of our readers! Its current popularity can be explained due to the fact that it’s really easy to make, looks super-cool, AND, unlike regular onigiri, the fillings are evenly distributed so you’re guaranteed to get a hit of both filling and rice with every bite!

Here’s what you’ll need to make it…

– Cooked white Japanese rice

– Nori seaweed sheets

– Your fillings of choice

…And that’s it! This time, we decided upon the following fillings: tuna mayo, sliced cheese, kimchi, ham and lettuce!

Here’s how you make it…

Mix a pinch of salt into the cooked white rice, then lay out some plastic wrap. Place a piece of nori seaweed on top of the plastic wrap, then cover it with a thin layer of the white rice. Top the white rice with tuna mixed with mayonnaise and soy sauce, sliced cheese, kimchi, ham and lettuce. Once that’s done, top that with another thin layer of white rice. Finally, wrap the edges of the nori seaweed sheet on top then wrap it all up using the edges of the plastic wrap. Leave for a while for the nori seaweed to soften up slightly, then cut up with a sharp knife.

Here’s the video!

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your onigirazu! Here’s another one we made with potato chips and bacon! As you can tell from our taste-tester kids at the end of the video, kids LOVE potato chips in their onigirazu!

What would you put inside your onigirazu? Let us know in the comments!

Photos and video © RocketNews24

Origin: How to make Japan’s coolest summer snack: Onigirazu! 【Recipe & Video】
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Otsuka isn’t exactly the most famous neighborhood in Tokyo. Located next to bustling Ikebukuro, it’s a quiet area and most people assume there’s not much to do. Whether or not that’s actually true, one of our Japanese writers found himself getting off the train at Otsuka Station the other day with a singular purpose in mind: He was there to eat onigiri (rice balls).

But should you hop on a train to Otsuka just for some food you can buy at a convenience store? Is this onigiri restaurant really worth a trip to this quiet neighborhood? Read on to find out!

Our writer Takashi headed to Otsuka on Saturday morning in order to try the food at a place called Bongo, which is apparently famous for its onigiri. Bongo is so well-known that when he arrived at 11:20, ten minutes before the restaurant opens, there was already a line outside! Within fifteen minutes of opening, all the seats were full — something that would make any restaurateur happy.

But a greater surprise was waiting for Takashi inside where he discovered that the onigiri restaurant had a lot in common with sushi joints. For one thing, there was a large L-shaped counter and for another, there was a range of items arrayed in a glass case, waiting to be stuffed in onigiri. And behind the case stood the chef, preparing food for customers.

As it was Saturday, Takashi decided to try the special Saturday set, which is limited to only 80 customers per day and comes with a choice of two onigiri. Takashi went with the popular salmon and mentaiko (spicy cod roe) with mayonnaise.

▼ The set also comes with salad, a boiled egg, and tofu soup.

So, how was the onigiri? “Though onigiri has a really standard image,” Takashi says, “this was just the opposite!” It was light and delicious in a way that gave him a new respect for how great onigiri can be.

Apparently part of what made this onigiri so great was the rice, which Bongo proudly advertises as being from Niigata Prefecture right on their restaurant sign. Takashi told us that the only thing he could say was that it was simply amazing!

So, should you take the time to stop by Otsuka just for some onigiri? Takashi says, yes, absolutely. Of course, some might balk at the cost — one rice ball costs 250 yen (US$2). That’s a good 100 yen more than what you’d probably pay at the convenience store, for example, but, Takashi argues that for the value you’re getting, 250 yen is cheap.

So, if you’ve never been to Otsuka, now you have a great reason to go!

Restaurant Information
Bongo / ぼんご
Address: Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Kita Otsuka 2-26-3
東京都豊島区北大塚2−26−3
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-midnight
Closed Sunday
Telephone: 3910-5617
Map

All images ©RocketNews24

Origin: Onigiri good enough to get off the train for: We tried the food at Bongo and it was amazing!
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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From Pikachu to Totoro, these onigiri rice balls are as cute as they are delicious-looking!

For years, cute lunches in Japan have revolved around the well-known kyaraben (character-bento) lunchbox. Where the kyaraben features flat, box-bound designs that could double as paintings on the walls of a contemporary art gallery, now there’s a new group of cute anime edibles with rounded, 3-D bodies that might be more at home sitting in a museum. Meet the 3-D onigiri rice ball collection, created by Thai Facebook user peaceloving_pax, who sees the plate as a playground for some of the world’s most beloved anime characters.

Cinnamoroll, a popular character series from Sanrio that centres on adorable white puppies with long ears, makes for an adorable rice ball.

Since his creation back in 1969, Doraemon had to wait 45 years before finally appearing in 3-D form in the 2014 movie Stand By Me. Now he looks as if he’s stepped out of the movie and into real-life in the form of an edible rice ball!

Gudetama, Sanrio’s lazy egg character, appears in a well-known pose, going to sleep under a blanket of bacon.

This is one character who needs no introduction: Totoro!

Pusheen, the chubby grey tabby cat, also makes an appearance.

Cute hamster Hamtaro began life as the star of a Japanese children’s manga and storybook series before moving on to star in movies and video games. Now he’s ready to please your tastebuds in rice-ball form.

Tony Chopper, from the hit One Piece anime franchise.

Pikachu looks excited to be hanging out as a deliciously adorable rice ball.

You don’t have to be a well-known anime character to be cute. Cats, shiba-inu dogs and reindeer all have their own special charm too.

The adorable Bob Minion flies the flag for Hollywood animation stars.

As well as mastering the art of onigiri rice ball characters, peaceloving_pax also experiments with eggs and shiratama dango (glutinous rice balls), when creating 3-D characters.

Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo is in her element, all shiny and delectable, thanks to her glutinous rice-ball body.

Sanrio’s Gudetama also gets the glossy treatment!

If you’d like to try making these edibles at home, peaceloving_pax has been generous in sharing her tricks of the trade, with a Bunny Poo rice ball how-to explanation.

And a Totoro Egg how-to below.

To see more amazing designs and how-to videos, be sure to check out the artist’s Instagram, Facebook and YouTube channel! Is anyone else suddenly very, very hungry??

Source and Images: peaceloving_pax

Origin: Step outside the cute character bento box with this amazing 3-D onigiri rice ball collection
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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In Japan, rice balls can be flavored with almost anything, so we decided to make some from the most exclusive seasoning of all: salt made from Mr. Sato’s sweat!

If you want to, you can get pretty fancy when making rice balls, called musubi or onigiri in Japanese. Gourmet ingredient choices include unagi (freshwater eel) or ikura (salmon roe), both widely considered delicacies in Japan.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, you’ll find more pedestrian fillings such as salmon or bonito flakes. The most basic rice balls of all, though, are shio musubi, which are just rice balls with a dash of salt.

Simple as they may be, shio musubi can actually be quite refreshing and tasty, especially when made with high-end salt. So in taking the local food movement to its ultimate extreme, we made our own salt, sourced from the sweat of RocketNews24’s intrepid Japanese-language reporter Mr. Sato.

Step one, of course, was to obtain a sufficiently sized sweat Sato sweat sample. While we could have just cranked up the heat in the office, we instead sent Mr. Sato over to Shinjuku’s Kabukicho, one of Tokyo’s largest bar districts which, like all night life centers in Japan, has a number of saunas. After stripping off his clothes, our reporter spent 10 minutes sitting in the sauna, wiping himself off with a towel as he sweat away. He then stepped out for a two-minute rest before going back in for another 10-minute stint, eventually doing six cycles and thus spending a cumulative hour in the sauna.

He then stuck the towel he’d been using the whole time in a Ziploc bag, brought it back to the office, and wrung it out into a bowl.

Having never made salt from human sweat before, we weren’t entirely sure if we had enough raw material to work with, but we poured what we had into a frying pan, then switched on the burner to cook off the moisture.

The liquid soon began to bubble, and before long it evaporated, leaving behind a pale powder that had to be salt! Well, we suppose there’s also the chance that there were some granular dirt and other random particles mixed in, but setting aside purity levels, we now had a batch of Sato-sourced sodium.

After waiting for the pan to cool down, but before making the rice balls themselves, Mr. Sato decided to try his signature seasoning. Since it came from him, it must be perfectly suited to his palate’s natural preferences, right?

So he put a little on his fingertip…

…took a lick…

…and found out that it had an even stronger salty taste than he’d expected! Mr. Sato described the effect as “condensed salt,” with a concentrated effect similar to condensed milk.

Oh, and it also stank like a sweaty Mr. Sato, which maybe we should have expected.

But of course, some seasonings only reveal their true deliciousness when they’re used to accent the taste of other foods. So the next order of business was to scrape the salt out of the pan.

▼ It was only then that we realized that Sato Salt isn’t white, but a troubling yellow in color.

Then, Mr. Sato got to work shaping two rice balls, which was really the only part of this day in the kitchen that wasn’t gross.

Once that was done, Mr. Sato took a pinch of Sato Salt and sprinkled it across the top of his two triangles of rice.

Then, it was time for the moment of truth.

And the truth was terrible.

For a brief split-second of the first bite, the Sato Salt shio musubi tasted like an ordinary salt-seasoned rice ball. The salty tones are punishingly strong, though, and then there’s the smell, and taste, of sweat. And no, you don’t get used to it as the meal goes on. In fact, the more you eat,the harder it becomes to block out the fact that you’re eating crystalized perspiration.

Just to make sure Mr. Sato’s negative reaction wasn’t the result of some subconscious self-preservation mechanism that prevents people from thinking their own body would taste good, Seiji, the bravest of our Japanese-language reporters in the office that day, also agreed to try a lick of Sato Salt in a taste test we recorded.

So in conclusion, yes, you can make salt from your sweat, and yes, you can use it to season musubi. That doesn’t mean you should, though, even if you’re Mr. Sato.

Images: ©RocketNews24

Origin: We make salt from our reporter’s sweat, then taste the world’s first Mr. Sato Salt rice balls
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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From Eevee to Jigglypuff and Psyduck, this edible Pokemon collection is the cutest we’ve ever seen!

Thai Instagram user peaceloving_pax has charmed us before with an amazing 3-D onigiri rice ball collection, and now she’s expanded her range to include a unique collection of adorable Pokémon characters. Cute, charming and entirely edible, her monster food art collection is a feast for the eyes that Pokémon fans will love!

Starting off is the “Bento for Pokémon Trainers”, which is a great idea for a lunch break while out and about playing Pokémon Go.

Proving that you don’t have to be human to be a trainer, Totoro, from the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbour Totoro, joins in the fun by looking for pocket monsters too!

Rice ball Eevee looks absolutely adorable. How could anyone bring themselves to eat that smiling face?

The Evolution Pokémon appears again on a slice of toast.

And here she sits as one of her most gorgeous eevee-lutions, Glaceon, the Fresh Snow Pokémon.

Meowth looks thrilled to be cosplaying as an English Muffin Brekkie!

And here Jigglypuff sits on the side of a salad.

The Magikarp rice ball comes complete with a tuna filling.

For Psyduck, being a rice ball does nothing to improve his eternal headache!

Here, electric rodents swim in a soup as Tangyuan glutinous rice flour balls.

Pikachu looks adorable as he takes a nap under a Monster Ball blanket.

And here he naps on top of a snuggly Snorlax!

Pikachu is the master of disguise, or at least he thinks he is, while dressed up as Totoro.

And Pikachu eating a tiny onigiri rice ball is one of the cutest items in the collection!

To see more amazing works from the talented food artist, be sure to check out the whole collection on Instagram and Facebook. Be careful, though – once you lay your eyes on all the adorable foods on offer, you’ll be left with a yearning desire to devour ’em all!

Source, Images: Instagram/peaceloving_pax

The adorable new character appears in a charming story told over several new video clips.

Whether it’s a feature-length film or an animated short, a Studio Ghibli creation always has a distinctive, magical quality that can’t be replicated, with imaginative storylines and unique, charming characters that instantly capture our hearts. Now there’s a brand new character to fall in love with, and this one is a plump, two-legged rice ball called “Tonari no Onigiri-kun” or “My Neighbour Rice Ball”. Created by one of the studio’s top animators, Katsuya Kondo, the character’s story is told over three short video clips, produced as part of a promotion for Ito En, Japan’s premier manufacturer of bottled tea drinks.

▼ The first video stars a rice cooker and ladle, who give us a quick introduction to where Onigiri-kun originally came from.

▼ One of the things that has fans swooning is the opening screen for each clip, which cements its authenticity as an official Studio Ghibli title.

▼ Despite being simply drawn, all the characters have a beautiful sense of life about them that immediately draws us into their tale.

The second video in the series shows us one of Japan’s most perfect meal combinations: hot green tea and a tightly packed ball of white rice. This cute rice ball, however, has a mind of his own!

▼ The two-legged Onigiri-kun comes to life and immediately runs off, while the cup of green tea looks surprised by the whole situation.

▼ The third video brings the story to its neat conclusion.

▼ All the characters join Onigiri-kun on his adventure, running alongside him until a bespectacled man stops them in their tracks.

▼ And now the family of onigiri-loving characters is complete, taking a bow to rapturous applause as if they’ve just performed a stage play.

The collaboration with Ito En is part of a campaign to encourage customers to purchase specially marked bottles of Ito En tea. 10,000 people who register special codes from the bottles online will be chosen to receive prizes like fresh rice and other gourmet products. Everyone who registers a code online will be able to receive one of several free “photo frames” featuring the cute rice ball character, which can be used to liven up online photos. Be sure to pick up a bottle of tea and visit the campaign website for more details!

Source: Studio Ghibli Unofficial Fansite
Top Image: YouTube/Itoen

Onigiri Action World Food Day campaign is donating meals to children in Africa and Asia for every rice ball photo shared online with its hashtag.

When you’re feeling a rumble in your stomach, it’s hard to beat a nice onigiri, as rice balls are called in Japanese. Simple, healthy, and something you can eat without any silverware, onigiri just might be the perfect way to quickly refuel your body.

Of course, not everyone in the world is fortunate enough to have enough to eat. That’s why charity organization Table for Two has launched the Onigiri Action campaign, in observance of World Food Day, which is coming up on October 16.

For every onigiri photo posted with the hashtag #OnigiriAction on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, Table for Two will provide five school meals to hungry children in Africa and Asia. The project’s generous sponsors include online retailer Rakuten, lifestyle company Mujirushi Ryohin, tea companies Yamamotoyama and Itoen, condiment maker Otafuku, and California rice grower Nishiki.

仙台弁こけしさん@jugokeshi のつぶやきからおにぎりアクションを知ったので。 皿は津山の矢羽木工、米は実家の登米ひとめぼれ、塩は塩釜の藻塩、海苔は松島産。まるごと宮城だべ。 #OnigiriAction https://t.co/J3YHqUMMc8

—
はとときのこ (@hato_to_kinoko) October 12, 2016

猫のおにぎり作ってみた(=^･ω･^=) オデコの模様が、両さんの眉毛っぽいな。 #OnigiriAction https://t.co/WFrEdakv4p

—
てふや食堂＠10月コミティア (@tehutan) October 12, 2016

The onigiri in your pictures don’t have to be homemade, so a snapshot of ones you bought at a Japanese convenience store or market will work fine. You don’t have to be living in Japan to participate, either. As a matter of fact, the Onigiri Action website has a continually updated map showing where photos bearing the hashtag originated, and there are already a number from the U.S. and Europe.

中身はウメボシなんですなぁ #OnigiriAction https://t.co/d97JtrglYW

—
ぽるか (@arbitrary_p) October 11, 2016

DK&JD弁当 夏目友人帳 ニャンコ先生 姉さんの高校からのリクエスト やっとミッション達成 長男怒る 今はオレが主やろ まだキャラ弁がいいのかい #キャラ弁 #ニャンコ先生 #お腹ペコリン部 #OnigiriAction https://t.co/DU45M79Izx

—
✳taka✳今日のキャラ弁 (@db500e2e28d2441) October 11, 2016

You can post as many photos as you want during the campaign, and even if you don’t have a social media presence, you can still participate by uploading your onigiri photos directly to Onigiri Action’s website, the English version of which can be found here. The campaign will be running until November 30, so the next time you’re craving a bite to eat, consider taking a few moments to help out some kids who’re hungry too.

Related: Onigiri Action
Source, images: Onigiri Action

The incident occurred at a festival in Shiga Prefecture last week.

A 28 year-old man collapsed while participating in an onigiri speed-eating contest held at Hikone City in Shiga Prefecture on 13 November, after a number of rice balls became lodged in his throat. He was given medical attention immediately but it was revealed yesterday that the man died three days later in hospital.

The speed-eating contest was one of the events held at a “Friendship Festival” run by Higashibiwako’s Japan Agricultural Co-operative (JA) to help promote local agricultural products. According to JA, the competition was meant to be a chance for attendees to experience the taste of their local oumimai variety of rice. Fifteen people participated in the event, with each person given five rice balls and a time limit of three minutes in which to finish eating them.

The man collapsed on stage during the event after putting the fifth rice ball in his mouth. Doctors and medical staff were on the scene immediately to provide emergency assistance before he was rushed to hospital, where he died three days later, on 16 November.

The day after the festival was held, JA Higashibiwako posted a notice on their website, thanking the medical staff for their assistance and apologising to attendees for cancelling the afternoon’s stage events after the accident. Organisers refrained from posting details of the accident on their website out of respect for the family.

It was found that event organisers had given due consideration to the safety of participants during the onigiri speed-eating event, with tea made available for all those who took part. Organisers expressed their remorse over the unfortunate accident and have assured local citizens that they will continue to put the safety of attendees first at future festival events.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News via Hamusoku
Featured image: Flickr/Yukiko Matsuoka

Check out their recipe for creating these neon edibles and learn how to make your own!

Have you ever wanted to eat something that looks like it came out of the movie Tron? Well, your day has come, my friend, because you’ll soon have the chance to enjoy a (completely non-toxic, believe it or not) bite of iridescent rice, seaweed, and whatever else you might be hungry for.

That’s all thanks to Japanese Twitter user, @unatra, who has revealed their (ahem) “illuminating” secret to the world, ensuring that we’ll all have the chance to enjoy this glow-in-the-dark delicacy before long. Provided, of course, you have access to a few common ingredients.

una's キッチン始まるよ！ 今日の料理は『蛍光おにぎり』 https://t.co/zjUYtZBDYH

—
  (@unatra) November 18, 2016

According to a series of posts, to recreate Unatra’s experiment you’ll need rice, dried seaweed, carbonated tonic water, vitamin B2 supplements (one or two pills), and green food coloring.

@unatra 鍋にお米,トニックウォーター,ビタミンB2サプリ(画像は2粒),食用色素(緑)を入れ、一般的な方法でご飯を炊きます https://t.co/SEIIddwcKa

—
  (@unatra) November 18, 2016

To start with, Unatra instructs would-be food chemists to take all the ingredients, except the seaweed, and place them in a metal saucepan. The next step is to simply heat up the contents to cook the rice as one normally would.  Remove the rice when it’s ready, and after molding it into the desired shape, wrap with seaweed. Easy, right?

@unatra 炊けたああああああああああああああああああああああああああああああああああああああああ！！！！！！！！！！ https://t.co/bohOgsIX7M

—
  (@unatra) November 18, 2016

Apparently, that’s about it! For those of you thinking, “there must be a catch,” you’re correct. Sadly, this concoction won’t be glowing on its own, like some mass of cartoon radioactive waste.

Unatra reveals in their posts that the secret to all of this is a black light. When exposed to black light, the finished rice balls transform from ordinary-looking onigiri into otherworldly, luminescent orbs. Wow! Aside from the black light, apparently cooking the mixture imbues the rice balls with the phosphorescent properties of vitamin B2 which melts when heated. Science!

So pull out your black light bulbs, your psychedelic dorm-room posters, and enjoy your glow-in-the-dark feast while it’s still cool. And if you’re looking for an equally bright dessert to go with your meal, these awesome fluorescent jelly shots are sure to amaze all your family and friends!

Source: Yurutore News
Top image: Twitter/@Unatra

The highest art form is always one that you can eat.

We’ve seen some pretty unconventional origami before, with talented people making cool creations out of everything from chopstick sleeves to orange peels. But up until now, all works of origami art were lacking something that would immediately make them better: being able to eat them afterward.

Thankfully one Japanese startup is trying to change that. They’ve created “orinigiri” (a combination of origami and onigiri/rice balls), paper that shows you how to fold it so that you can create cool 3-D designs out of seaweed, rice, and your favorite fillings.

▼ Just put the seaweed over the paper, spread some
rice and fillings on it, then fold, and…

▼ …you can make cool Mt. Fuji,
“twin,” and “connected friend” onigiri!

▼ Here’s a video showing how the Mt. Fuji one is made.

▼ This one is an onigiri chidori (plover bird). You have to use your
imagination, but it looks super satisfying to take a giant bite out of.

▼ And one of the most impressive is these
three onigiri “friends” connected together.

As someone who loves onigiri but never feels like making them at home and never wants to pay to buy them pre-made at convenience stores, orinigiri seems like it might be a way to get me excited to fold up some seaweed and rice and rekindle my love with onigiri.

If you’re interested in seeing more orinigiri action, check out its crowfunding page over at Makuake.

And in the meantime if you want to see some paper craft that is a feast for your eyes instead of your stomach, take a look at some 3-D masterpieces cut out of a single piece of paper.

Source, images: Makuake/orinigiri

Handmade leather accessories are specially designed for Japan’s greatest, healthiest convenience store snack.

One of the greatest things about Japanese convenience stores is how they’re always stocked with delicious onigiri. While onigiri is uaually translated as “rice ball,” the palm-sized collections of rice, filling, and seaweed are often triangular in shape.

Priced at around 120 yen (just a little over US$1), onigiri are a quick, affordable, and nutritious snack or on-the-go meal component. And now, thanks to Japanese leather goods maker Arataya, onigiri aren’t just part of a healthy diet, but part of a fashionable appearance as well.

Arataya is now offering leather onigiri holders. Held closed by a metal snap, the open-ended holsters allow you to carry your triangular onigiri in a stylish way, protecting it from getting smushed while still letting the corners maintain their crisp angles.

Each holder is handmade, and sized to perfectly fit the standard-sized onigiri sold at convenience stores and supermarkets across Japan. Priced at 4,200 yen (US$36), each is equipped with a buckle to let you clip the holder to a backpack for easy access when hiking through the wilderness or exploring the concrete jungles of Japan’s major metropolises.

The onigiri holders can be purchased through online creative retailer Creema, and are available in tan, black, and striped versions.

Oh, and if you’re wondering how you’re supposed to get your onigiri out of its plastic wrapping once you remove it from your slick leather holder, we’ve can show you right here.

Source: Japaaan
Top image: Creema
Insert images: RocketNews24, Creema (1, 2, 3)

We’ve all heard of instant noodles; now it’s time for instant rice balls. Or…sort of instant.

On June 15, Onisi Foods released a product that could change your entire instant food experience. They’ve created a series of onigiri that you make yourself, but it only requires a bit of water.

▼ Simply open the packet…

▼ Take out the oxygen absorbing pocket…

▼ …add water up until the line, and close the zipper. Boom! You’re done.

▼ Onisi’s onigiri are currently available for 200 yen (US$1.78) in sake salmon, wakame seaweed and gomoku rice with red beans.

The catch is that, unlike instant noodles, these rice balls will take more than a few minutes to fluff up. If you use room temperature water, you’ll have to wait 60 minutes. With hot water, though, you can cut down your waiting time to 15 minutes.

Like many Onisi Foods products, these onigiri were made to last a long time – 5 years, to be exact. It’s recommended to store a few of these packets in your emergency supplies storage. In a country prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis like Japan, it’s fairly common for companies and households alike to have at least a survival bag to grab in emergencies.

It also makes the perfect food to take with you for hiking or traveling. Astronauts likely will find them handy as well. Just imagine yourself, floating along in space, longing for a taste of home…and then suddenly, an Onisi onigiri packet drifts into your hand. Tears come unbidden to your eyes. That’s the kind of thing Onisi has made possible.

Source: PR Times
Images: PR Times (edited by SoraNews24)

You’ll want both hands free and stomach empty before digging into this onigiri behemoth.

We recently stopped by Tokyo boxed lunch specialist Kitchen Dive to buy a three-kilogram (6.6-pound) bento. While we were there, our eyes glazed over at the sight of the counter filled with massive meals, many of which were stuffed with mouth-watering fried foods.

At the edge of our vision, though, we could make out a row of onigiri, or Japanese-style rice balls.

But this is still Kitchen Dive, and as such the establishment has a reputation to uphold. So while Kitchen Dive can hook you up with a palm-sized onigiri for just 30 yen (US$0.27)…

…or, for 100 yen, one that’s slightly bigger than the rice balls you’ll find at the convenience store.

If you’re really hungry, you can get a gigantic half-kilo rice ball, which costs 300 yen…

…but if you’re really, really hungry, the madmen at Kitchen Dive can also provide you with a one-kilogram (2.2-pound) rice ball!

Kitchen Dive’s largest onigiri, which also happens to be the biggest rice ball we’ve ever come across in Tokyo, is priced at 500 yen. The one we picked up had edamame soy beans mixed in, but no seaweed wrapping.

To put a full kilo of rice in perspective, onigiri usually contain somewhere around 100 grams of rice, so this monster is equivalent to 10 of its orthodox brethren. Alternatively, a customary curry rice serving in Japan uses about 300 grams of rice.

▼ Kitchen Dive’s 30, 100, 300, and 500-yen onigiri

Needless to say, this isn’t the sort of thing an ordinary person can eat in a single sitting. Even our own Mr. Sato, whose proven himself to be in possession of an extraordinary stomach time and time again, couldn’t polish it off by himself.

▼ Not that he didn’t try, of course.

500 yen might be a lot for an onigiri, which typically sell for about 120 yen at convenience stores and supermarkets. But since the Kitchen Dive giant is ten times normal size, but just a little over four times the normal price, it’s actually pretty awesome value if you don’t mind taking the leftovers home to munch on over the course of the next day or two.

Shop information
Kitchen Dive / キッチンDive
Address: Tokyo-to, Koto-ku, Kameido 6-58-15 Land Sea Kameido
東京都江東区亀戸６丁目５８−１５ ランドシー亀戸
Open 24 hours

Photos ©SoraNews24