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This episode is more than just rice! Perhaps this will open your eyes to the adventure you're about to take: ☆ Beautiful scenery ☆ Dangerous animals ☆ Delicious foods ☆ Handling heavy machinery ☆ Booze and parties! (Sake and festivals) All this is part of the story of rice in Japan. You are what you eat (and drink) and in Japan, that may just be a lot of rice! Rice is more than food in Japan – it's used in religious ceremonies and at festivals. Watch sumo and you'll see them throwing – rice! Rice was even once used as money just like how the Romans used salt as currency. There are also many varieties of rice. The reason? Japan has so many different landscapes and climates – some varieties do well at elevation, so taste better when cold, others when hot. The taste differs from region to region based on the environment – water, air, temperature, fertilizer, elevation, planting / harvesting and general daily care. In the episode, John Daub travels to Hyogo prefecture north of Kobe to a rice paddy owned by sake maker Dassai. By planting the rice by hand, it's an opportunity to get a feeling for how rice was grown decades ago. These days though, a rice planting machine is used and John jumps into the driver's seat for a chance to plant a few rows of Yamada Nishiki rice. This program opens in Tokyo at Ueno at Inari-cho Aizawa Rice Shop. The owner explains the meaning of rice to Japanese and we even get to watch the husking process and eat some gohan. Get a close look at the rice polishing process: * Genmai (Brown Rice) * Hakumai (Polished White Rice) We meet Mr. Seiichi, John's 94 year old neighbor! He talks about how important rice was in the early 1900s in Japan. URL: ★ Inari-cho Aizawa Rice Shop / いなりちょう相沢米店   http://members2.jcom.home.ne.jp/ainokome/ ★ Dassai Sake https://www.asahishuzo.ne.jp/en/ “Brewed for Sipping” This show has been created and produced by John Daub ジョン・ドーブ. He's been living and working in Japan for over 18 years and regularly reports on TV for Japan's International Channel.