1. Do you eat rice everyday (nenjuu, nichijou)? How many times each day do you eat rice?
2. What is the original name for Japan? (mizu ho no kuni )
3. What does mizu ho no kuni mean? (the land of the "water stalk plant," or rice)
4. What is your favorite brand (rakuin, burando) of rice? What region is it grown in?
5. Have you ever visited a rice farm? When?
6. How far are the nearest rice paddies (ten, tsukuda) from your home?
7. What animals live near the rice paddies? (frogs, ducks, dragonflies)
8. Are insects and mosquitoes (ka) a problem near rice paddies? What do you do to protect (purotekuto) yourself from mosquitoes?
9. Does rice have a certain smell (kaori, nioi)? What does rice smell like?
10. One of the students told me that when she was a child, her school had a small rice field where the children could learn about growing rice. When you were young, did your school have a small rice field?
11. Are there many birds (mozu) living near the rice fields? What type of birds?
12. How long does it take to plant rice? What time of the year is the rice planted?
13. What time of the year is rice harvested (shukaku suru)? Who usually does the harvesting?
14. How long does rice take to grow? When do you know the rice is ready for harvest?
15. Is there a rice festival (matsuri)? When? Tell me about the festival. Have you ever been to one?
16. Do you ever purchase rice grown in other countries, like Korea or China? How does Korean and Chinese rice differ (rakusa) from Japanese rice?
17. Does Japan grow enough rice to feed its population (126 million people)? What other countries does Japan import (yunyuu, inpo-to) rice from?
18. Does Japan export (yushutsu, ishutsu, ekusupo-to) any of its rice? To what countries?
19. How do you make steamed rice? Tell me the proper procedure (seihou, ryourihou, tsukurikata) to make great rice.
20. Do you have a rice cooking machine? What brand is it? How much rice can your rice cooker make?
21. Does everybody have their own special recipe for perfect rice, or is it prepared the same throughout Japan (nihonjuu)? How do you measure the water and the uncooked rice?
22. Who taught you how to prepare rice? How old were you?
23. Do you wash the rice before it is cooked? How long do you usually wash it?
24. What happens if you don’t wash rice? How is unwashed rice different once it is cooked?
25. Do you soak (mizu ni tsukeru) the rice before you cook it? How long? Do you use hot water or cold water?
26. How is sushi rice prepared? What ingredients (zairyou, gu) are added to sushi rice? When do you add these flavorings?
27. If you prepare too much rice to be eaten at one meal, what do you do with leftover (nokorimono) or extra rice?
28. How long does cooked rice last? Where do you keep leftover rice?
29. What can you do if you don’t cook rice long enough, and it is too hard and chewy to eat? Is there anything you can make with undercooked rice?
30. What can you do if you cook rice too long, and it turns brown on the bottom, or is too soft and mushy to eat? Is there anything you can make with overcooked rice?
31. Is it rude (futodoki, sobou, arai) to leave rice in your bowl? Why?
32. What is the difference between gohan, asagohan, hirugohan, and bangohan? (cooked rice, breakfast rice, lunch rice and dinner rice)
33. What shape (kakkou, katachi, kata) are rice balls (onigiri) ? (triangles)
34. What is your favorite donburi style meal? For example, Ten-don (tempura topping) Katsu-don (tonkatsu topping) and Oyako-don (chicken and eggs topping).
35. What color is sekihan? Do you like red bean paste?
36. Have you tasted wild rice, basmati rice, brown rice, or arborio rice? Did you enjoy the flavor and texture of the rice? How is it different from Japanese rice?
37. What is your favorite rice dessert? Have you ever tried rice pudding?
38. Rice milk has become more popular recently in the United States. Many people believe it is better for your health than cow’s milk. Have you ever tried rice milk? Do you like rice milk? What is your favorite rice beverage?
39. Rice paper is very delicate and beautiful. Do you have any rice paper in your home? Name some of the uses for rice paper.
40. What other items are made from rice? (tatami mats, face scrub, rice paste).
41. When you look at the full moon (mangetsu, mochidzuki), what do you see? (A rabbit pounding rice cakes.)
42. Is rice cheap or expensive in Japan? What is the most expensive kind of rice? Where is it grown?
43. Rice from Niigata is very delicious. Have you tried it? Why is it better?
44. Do you use rice as a ritual to honor your ancestors during Obon? Please tell me about this ritual.
45. Do you make special rice dishes for Golden Week, New Year’s, or other holidays? Can you tell me about these dishes?
46. What is the most elaborate (chimitsu, nyuunen) or difficult recipe made with rice?
47. What is mochi? How do you make it?
48. Where can you buy dango?
49. Do you prefer long grain, medium grain or short grain rice? What type is the typical Japanese rice?
50. Do you enjoy drinking sake? Is the same type of rice used both for making rice wine and for eating?
51. Sake rice is usually polished (migaku) before it is used to make sake. Rice for very high quality dai-ginjo sake is polished down to 40% of its original size! Have you ever tasted dai-ginjo sake?
52. Where is the best sake from? Which is more important for making sake: the quality of the water, or the quality of the rice?
53. What is the best food to eat with sake?
54. Did you know that many famous brands of beer like Asahi, Sapporo, Kirin, Budweiser and Coors are made with rice?
55. Did you know that over half of the people in the world eat rice every day? What countries do you think consume the most rice?
56. For many Americans, rice is not eaten as the main course, but as a "side dish." Do you consider rice as the main course or the side dish?
57. In California, rice cultivation is becoming more popular. Did you know that there is rice grown in the US? Kokuho Rose and Nishiki brands are the most popular brands.
58. Have you tasted American rice? If so, what is your opinion of American rice?
59. Instant rice is popular in America. One brand, Uncle Ben’s, is very famous, and only takes 10 minutes to cook. Have you ever tried instant rice? Do you like it?
60. Breakfast cereals made of rice are very popular in the US, for example, Rice Krispies. Are breakfast cereals also popular in Japan? Are they usually made from rice?
61. Has there ever been a rice shortage in Japan? When? Why?
62. People in Japan are eating less rice. Why do you think that the daily consumption of rice is declining? (convenience stores and fast-food restaurants)
63. Have you ever eaten a rice burger at Mosburger? What did you think of the taste?
64. Is brown rice also popular in Japan? What is brown rice eaten with? Is there a special way of cooking brown rice?
65. Rice vinegar (su) is a key ingredient in sushi rice. Which is your favorite brand of rice vinegar? What other foods use rice vinegar?

www.riceweb.com

www.riceworld.org

www.calrice.org