‘De-Orientalising’ Rice?: The Role of Chinese Intermediaries in Globalising Japanese Rice Cookers

Is the electric rice cooker Japanese? It was first invented in Japan by Tosh-

iba in 1955, but today it cooks far more than sushi rice. The international

models cook Bolivian chicken rice, Cantonese thick congee, and Iranian

long-grain rice with a crust. Some 30 million electric rice cookers are sold

every year, according to one estimate, and the most popular, the National/

Panasonic ‘World Series’ models, are sold in more than forty-five countries

and regions.2