Japan’s humble rice ball gets image upgrade
– Wrapped in seaweed and stuffed with delicious fillings, “onigiri” rice balls are shaking off their reputation as a cheap and uninspiring snack in Japan – and enticing hungry converts abroad.
Mouth-watering pictures on social media, rising demand for affordable lunches and a surge in tourism to Japan are all drawing people to the humble onigiri.
Just ask any of the 50-odd customers lined up in a quiet corner of Tokyo for the restaurant, Onigiri Bongo, to open.
In the past, “no-one came between lunch and dinner, but now customers queue non-stop”, said 71-year-old Yumiko Ukon, who runs the more than half-century-old shop.
Some wait for eight hours, said Ukon, whose team makes some 60 different types of onigiri, bulging with traditional fillings like pickled plum, or more unusual offerings such as bacon with soy sauce.
Onigiri Bongo only has nine counter seats but sells about 1 200 rice balls each day.
“When I was young, onigiri was something you would make at home,” Ukon said. “Now people buy onigiri, or go out to have it.”
Long popular as on-the-go fuel in Japan, onigiri have been eaten for over a millennium in the country, where they were once taken onto the battlefield by samurai.
The quick bites can be found in convenience stores on practically every corner, ubiquitous enough to be banal.
But with more visitors than ever flocking to Japan and the country’s pop culture booming, onigiri are now also becoming a lunch option overseas.
Japanese rice ball chain Omusubi Gonbei has opened outlets in Paris and near Grand Central Station in New York.
“It’s light, healthy and easy to eat,” said 53-year-old customer Sean King, who first tried onigiri in Japan and was “very happy” to find them in the Big Apple.
“You don’t have any regrets after eating one.”
The oldest rice ball restaurant in Tokyo, Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku, was included in the 2019 Michelin Guide, elevating the status of the snack.
“From that moment, people who saw onigiri as an everyday bite to eat began to see it as a quality dish,” said Yusuke Nakamura, president of Japan’s Onigiri Society.
Spending on onigiri and other pre-prepared rice products has grown by 66% over the past two decades in Japan, figures from the internal affairs ministry show.
In 2022, onigiri were the second-most-frequently purchased ready-to-eat food in Japan after bento lunchboxes.
And the number of specialised onigiri shops is rising quickly, Nakamura said.
The trend has been driven by demand for takeaway meals during the Covid pandemic. –