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| http://lifesciencephdadventures.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/china-round-grain-rice-rr201.jpg |
Rice is
Japan's most important crop, and has been cultivated across the country for
over 2000
years. It is the primary staple food of the Japanese
diet and of such fundamental importance to the Japanese culture that
it was once used as currency, and the word for cooked rice (gohan) has become
synonymous with the general meaning of "meal".
Rice
Manners
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Pick up your rice bowl with your
hand while eating from it.
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It is considered polite to finish
every grain of rice that you have been served.
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It is not common to pour soy sauce
directly over rice.
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Do not leave your chopsticks
standing up vertically in your rice. This is done at funerals.
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Rice
fields
Rice fields
are a common sight in the Japanese countryside and an image of nostalgia for
many people. The fields start as flooded patties in the early summer and turn
into seas of green and gold waves as the rice grows and matures through the
season. The crop of rice is then usually harvested in the fall, although some
southern regions may plant more than one crop per year.
Text: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2043.html
