Photo/Illutration Yumiko Ukon, president of Bongo, a specialty onigiri outlet, in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward on Sept. 28 (Yukari Uozumi)

Onigiri rice balls are surging in popularity, with specialty outlets opening around the country and sales at convenience stores going strong.

The rice balls, which are typically wrapped in dried seaweed and stuffed with any number of tasty fillings, continue to sell briskly, even as the overall consumption of rice, the staple food of Japan, is on the decline.

Officials of Kakaku.com Inc., operator of the Tabelog restaurant search and reservation service, said 2,055 onigiri outlets were registered on its website as of the end of August, nearly double the 1,162 registered at the same time in 2020.

At Bongo, a long-established specialty onigiri outlet in front of JR Otsuka Station in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward, workers are particularly busy on Saturdays. The line outside the shop forms at 8 a.m., an hour before it opens. By the time the store closes at 9 p.m., between 1,200 and 1,500 customers will have visited the shop.

The word onigiri is derived from the verb “nigiru,” which means “to press” by hand. Bongo’s onigiri products, however, are made simply by “wrapping” select fillings in fluffily steamed rice.

Long lines began to form outside Bongo around 10 years ago after the outlet earned a reputation for its “unpressed” onigiri, which are sold for 350 yen to 700 yen ($2.28 to $4.55) each.

When Bongo was founded in 1960, onigiri were a food that people normally just made at home.

“But we have gotten to the point where customers will stand in line outside our shop for up to eight hours just to eat our onigiri,” said Yumiko Ukon, the eatery’s 72-year-old president.

Bongo is patronized by many non-Japanese visitors, who make up about 33 percent of customers on certain days.

Former employees have opened more than 20 Bongo-style onigiri outlets in Japan and abroad.

STRONG SALES AT CONVENIENCE STORES

Onigiri are selling well at convenience stores, too. Japan’s biggest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, sells 2.1 billion rice balls annually.

“Specialty onigiri outlets began to grow in number just before the novel coronavirus pandemic ended,” said an official with the merchandising division of Lawson Inc., a rival convenience store chain.

“Onigiri have been featured in mass media more often. The entire onigiri market is growing,” the official explained.

Onigiri sales have grown for 41 months straight at FamilyMart, Japan’s second-largest convenience store chain, and for three years in a row at Lawson, the third largest.

These three chains sell 30 to 35 types of onigiri for 100 yen to 400 yen each.

“We have a ‘top, middle and lower’ pricing strategy, offering everything from high-quality to economical products,” said a representative of Seven & i Holdings Co., operator of the 7-Eleven chain.

“We have been adding a succession of new products to our lineup,” said an official with Lawson’s merchandising division.

The chains are vying to develop new onigiri products, including ones supervised by famous restaurants and ones for box lunch sets.

Lawson and FamilyMart last year introduced machines that breathe air into steamed rice to make the rice balls extra fluffy.

Seicomart, the fifth-largest convenience store chain, has earned a reputation for selling onigiri that are made by hand in the stores.

A Lawson merchandising official said onigiri have gained popularity because “in a time of rising prices, rice balls allow people to enjoy a little luxury affordably, which is hard to find with box lunches, which are more expensive.”

The average rice consumption per capita in Japan has plummeted from its peak of 118.3 kilograms in fiscal 1962 to only 50.9 kilograms in fiscal 2022.

The production volume of rice has also fallen. Recent rice shortages and surging rice prices have directly impacted people’s livelihoods.

The adversity, however, has not dampened the spirits of Bongo’s president, Ukon.

“I hope to work with people who love onigiri and share our values, whether they are specialty outlets or convenience stores, so we can help preserve our rice-eating culture and onigiri,” she said.

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