Photo/Illutration A combine harvester works in a rice field in Kita Ward in Niigata on Sept. 20. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Before becoming a film director, Kihachi Okamoto (1924-2005), went to Tokyo the year the Pacific War began, bringing with him a “yakan” kettle he intended to use to cook rice instead of a “kama” rice-cooking pot.

He used the kettle to make miso soup and boil rice. But the kettle was eventually superseded by an empty film can, a container used to store film stock. The can was perfect for boiling a “go” (about 0.18 liter) of rice, according to Okamoto.

The most delicious meal he could get his hands on at that time was freshly boiled rice topped with butter and seasoned with a little soy source, he wrote in a book about his eating habits.

One essential element of the dish is the scorched portions of boiled rice, which give it its appetizing aroma. An electric rice cooker is convenient but makes boiled rice less authentic, Okamoto laments in the book, titled “Otoko hitori no yakan meshi” (a single man’s kettle-boiled rice).

My family sometimes uses an earthen pot to boil rice instead of an electric rice cooker. When we cook rice with the pot, we eat it as soon as it is boiled. I think this is one reason why rice boiled in a pot tastes so delicious.

Whatever you use to make it, rice is best eaten when freshly boiled. Autumn is the season for “shinmai” (new rice), or rice harvested and processed during the current calendar year.

This year’s rice crop is an average yield nationwide, according to the agriculture ministry. The harvest in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region is slightly better than average. But the novel coronavirus pandemic is blighting the sales prospect for shinmai.

Dwindling rice demand in the restaurant industry is likely to produce an unusually large glut.

While rice consumption at home has increased, the evaporation of foreign tourists has made a big dent in overall demand.

Until recently, the consumption of rice by foreign visitors to Japan was like exporting the product overseas, which is part of the reason why we have a big decline in domestic demand this year.

Though it is not enough to fully compensate for the decline, we can do a little to help improve the situation by eating as much new rice as possible.

I feel the pleasure / Of boiling new rice / As I try to ensure / the proper quantity of water, goes a short poem by Shinzo Okada.

New employees who have joined the workforce this year, also called “shinmai” in Japanese, have gone through tough times due to the pandemic, with many being forced to work from home as soon as they stepped out into the world.

These new recruits remain uncertain how much they have learned about their work and so are the people around them. This is a year when more attention must be paid than usual to the progress these shinmai employees are making.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 11

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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