Ep.11 – Onigiri [Japanese Podcast]

Hello everyone Welcome to my Japanese podcast I' m Mai I hope you're all doing well I'm feeling fine but I'm completely sore from head toe Yes the reason I ended up with full-body muscle soreness is because I actually worked out for the first time in a very long while yesterday I've been putting off exercising lately using the excuse that it's been really cold recently and I've had an extremely busy work schedule Yeah I was thinking I really should start exercising soon before it gets worse motivated by health concerns I finally got back into it yesterday and did some workout while watching YouTube Hmm well since it'd been ages since I'd exercised just moving around a little had me drenched in sweat and I was already getting worn out Hmm I really felt that I just have to keep going now Yes before that I used to exercise every single day It was probably about two hours a day and since I was exercising every day back then I wasn't tired at all The soreness was completely nonexistent though I realized I really need to keep this up or else I’d end up back where I started—I was genuinely shocked when I woke up this morning Wait it hurts like my body's on fire I don't know what to do—actually it hurt so much I barely managed to get up at all Now though since some time has passed since I woke up I'm getting better little by little but my legs still hurt quite a bit Yes that's right so from now on even when it's cold I really need to I realized I really should exercise for at least 30 minutes every day Hmm yeah it's the same with pretty much everything Keeping going—it’s really not that easy is it Whether it’s studying a language exercising or anything else it’s the same Yeah it's really tough to keep going but I guess that's exactly what makes continuing so important—really felt that again yesterday Alright then well— Shall we begin today's Ne Podcast Hmm today I'd like to talk about onigiri Japan's soul food Are you guys fond of onigiri I absolutely love them I really do And today I’m also introducing my favorite onigiri specialty shop I'd like to share this with you so I'd truly appreciate it if you'd listen all the way to the end Yes first I'd like to talk about the origins of onigiri Do you know the origin of onigiri Well there are a few theories but the word "onigiri" itself comes from the idea of holding something in your hands The word itself actually originated from the motion of gripping as the traditional onigiri was once called "nigiri" in old times It gradually evolved and came to be called onigiri and surprisingly the history of onigiri goes back a very long way It's said to have begun during the Yayoi period over 2 000 years ago— can you believe it's that old It has a history spanning over 2 000 years And apparently people back then would shape cooked rice into balls by hand when eating it so the form wasn't the triangular onigiri we know today It is said to have originally been just a simple round shape and as time progressed onigiri gradually became a portable rice food enjoyed anytime anywhere And during the Sengoku period roughly 500 years ago this convenience would take on particularly significant importance There's a well-known saying that you can't fight when your stomach is empty and that's because being hungry drains both your physical strength and mental energy It means being unable to show one 's strength in battle Yes so when the samurai talk about "fighting " they'referring to major battles When heading into battle portable quick-to-eat food was incredibly important That's when rice balls really shined thanks to their long-lasting fullness and ease of eating with one hand By "long-lasting fullness " we mean they keep you satisfied for a long time after eating At that time onigiri still had little to no flavoring or fillings so they were just very simple rice balls with salt As the era of war ended and life became stable onigiri evolved into new forms and it was then that the style of wrapping rice balls in seaweed as we know them today began to spread widely It's said to date back 300 to 400 years to the Edo period It is said that around this time delicious onigiri filled with ingredients like plum kelp and bonito flakes began to be made in abundance So the onigiri we have today came about thanks to such a long history Today with convenience stores and dedicated onigiri shops available everywhere you can easily buy onigiri almost anywhere And onigiri remains a beloved Japanese soul food cherished by people of all ages from children to adults whether as a packed lunch for sports day or a quick meal or late-night snack during busy times That's right comfort food always brings back memories I have my own memories from elementary school Back then there were so many events like sports days and field trips And each time a packed lunch was necessary but back then so many kids brought onigiri in their lunches So what exactly is a school field trip One of the school's events is called a field trip when the entire class goes out together So for example going hiking or visiting the zoo—things like that are our usual outings Well when we go on such field trips you know— Lunchtime was when everyone would lay out their bento boxes and eat together as one and the rice balls the other kids brought were already so tiny and round incredibly cute in size There were so many kids bringing all sorts of fillings for their onigiri and it was just incredibly cute and looked so delicious—I was seriously jealous But my onigiri is always this huge and the filling is always the same—umeboshi That’s why my mom always used to make two onigiri for me but both of them were umeboshi It's not just sour—it's extremely sour pickled plums really really sour and back then as a grade schooler I thought that was incredibly intense That rice ball was already so incredibly sour I just never got into umeboshi I'm really sorry but I can't help it even though she went to such trouble making it for you Back then I was already kind of big and that one was huge and sour kind of like a pickled plum so I just wasn't fond of it But then again as I've grown older I've come to truly appreciate the taste of umeboshi and somehow my palate has matured along with me And so after many years I finally tasted my mother's onigiri again as an adult and that 's when I realized—wait really —that my mother's onigiri was this delicious all along Hmm back in elementary school honestly I wasn't really fond of it mainly because it didn't look very cute but once I tried it as an adult it turned out to be quite good It's incredibly delicious—the saltiness is just perfect and that tangy umeboshi tastes even better making me think how wonderfully flavorful it is and ever since I grew up I've asked for it repeatedly Please ask your mother again I want to bring onigiri tomorrow so please make two for me as usual —when you make them I’ll take them to work and eat them the next day I always ate that for lunch Even now living in Korea away from Japan I still occasionally find myself thinking "Ah I really feel like eating my mom's onigiri " And there's one other memory I can't forget—one that's truly precious— it was the grilled rice balls my grandmother made for me Does everyone know what grilled rice balls are A rice ball grilled to a golden crisp on both sides—my grandmother's grilled rice balls were absolutely delicious and I loved them so much I used to always visit my grandmother's house during my elementary and middle school years and it was actually quite close to my actual family home It's about a 15-minute drive away so I'd always go visit there and whenever summer or longer holidays came around I 'd stay for two or three weeks at a time I'd been staying at Grandma's house for an incredibly long time and back then Grandma had a dog at her house didn't she She was a dog from Chiba named Merry and I just absolutely loved her—I always wanted to see Merry so much I used to go there mainly just to visit Merry-chan Whenever went to visit Grandma's house she would always make us grilled rice balls and she'd always make two of them One is a soy sauce-flavored grilled onigiri and the second is a miso-flavored grilled onigiri She always made these for me during snack time they were incredibly delicious and the level of doneness was just perfect—golden brown and perfectly crisp But we'd eat it while it was still ping hot puffing and panting with excitement just like always—I still remember it clearly to this day It was truly delicious perfectly grilled rice balls and Grandma is actually still going strong today She's 95 years old Isn't that incredible 95 years old I truly think she's doing wonderfully and it's so comforting knowing she's still alive and well today even though she now lives in a senior care home I'm genuinely happy she's still with us But the thought that I can't eat my grandmother's grilled rice balls anymore makes me feel a little sad yet I still really wish I could have one again After all they're already living in a nursing home so there's really nothing that can be done about it That's precisely why this memory of the grilled rice ball remains unforgettable —it continues to live on today as a truly cherished and precious memory Talking like this really brings to mind how many memories I have of onigiri Ultimately for me onigiri will always be the taste of home the kind my mother and grandmother used to make for me I really love convenience store onigiri—they're delicious—but I still prefer the warm homely kind So I've visited various onigiri specialty shops over the years and among them there's one particular shop that serves truly delicious onigiri That's Bongo a shop located in Ōtsuka Tokyo and what makes Bongo's onigiri special is It's huge—each one is incredibly generous in size and it's packed full of filling ingredients inside Typical onigiri usually has filling only in the center but Bongo's onigiri is different The ingredients are packed all the way to the edges so when you take a bite you're eating the fillings along with the rice—making this onigiri one you can enjoy from start to finish with every bite including the ingredients I think this might be one of the reasons it's quite popular— also it's so fluffy It's just incredibly soft and airy rice balls I've never had a rice ball this fluffy before—this is Bongo's first time Yes That Bongo's shop has counter seating so you can see the preparation area and just watching them work you end up not even bothering to hold the food anymore Typical onigiri is shaped by firmly wrapping it with your hands but Bongo's onigiri isn't made this way Just quickly shape it a bit more neatly then quickly apply glue and wrap it right away It's already so incredibly fast it feels like professional-level skill but yeah I hardly held it at all—yes it's incredibly soft though That rice is also carefully selected so they use well-known delicious rice which is why each grain is exceptionally firm and solid That's why despite being incredibly soft and fluffy the rice remained firm making for a delicious satisfying onigiri with great substance But it's always a line—this place is so popular that there are always lots of people no matter when you go Still it seems there are certain times when you can get in with little or no waiting I've never once gone to Bongo without having to wait in line I usually end up waiting anywhere from one to one and a half hours That sounds pretty shocking doesn't it Wait you're telling me I'd have to wait an hour and a half just to buy a rice ball I thought the same thing before I tried Bongo's rice balls I was thinking why do I have to wait an hour and a half just to buy a rice ball That's how I felt when I went on a day so bitterly cold it was almost unbearable But went there together just the two of us holding onto each other tightly and trembling in Hokkaido We stood shivering together just the two of us for an hour and a half and back then I was just thinking why on earth do we have to wait in such a long line But the moment I stepped inside and took a bite of the onigiri I thought wow this is definitely worth the wait I truly thought I'd wait in line if I have to just to eat that rice ball — and ever since then waiting an hour or an hour and a half has become completely normal to me So it's one of those onigiri you really crave even if you have to stand in line for a bit and the inside of the store is really bright and pleasant The president of Bongo is actually a woman by the way That president always greets customers with a warm smile no matter when you visit And when I actually placed an order at Bongo the president himself took my order and during that time he also shared all sorts of interesting conversations with me They're incredibly cheerful and bright and since the customer service at that shop is also excellent I think many people feel inspired to visit again I'm one of those people too right now I'm really expressing my deep love for Bongo I adore him so much that I even bought the book—this is clearly just pure fandom I'm that fond of it I even brought it all the way to Korea and sometimes I just crave Bon-go's onigiri Whenever I feel like eating a delicious onigiri I always open this book and gaze at the picture of that onigiri Just looking at this photo makes me so hungry I can't help but want to eat So the next time I return to Japan I’ve absolutely decided to go to Bongo and the one bento I truly recommend from Bongo is I really want to recommend one particular onigiri but that Bongo has around 50 different varieties It's so overwhelming that you might find yourself wondering which one to order The ingredient I recommend most is my own Menta Cream Cheese This spicy cod roe cream cheese is made by mixing cod roe with mayonnaise The filling consists of mixing a sauce made from mixing mentaiko and mayonnaise with cream cheese It's packed full inside the onigiri you see —now hearing "Meat Cream Cheese" right now— You might have thought "Wait doesn't cream cheese clash with onigiri "—I was actually one of those people I used to be absolutely certain that cream cheese would never go well with rice—before I'd even tried it with mayonnaise cream cheese And when I went to Bongo with a friend my friend ordered the mackerel cream cheese and at that moment I Wait my friend said that明太クリームチーズ (Masago cream cheese) would definitely go well together and would definitely taste delicious so wait really They actually go well together I couldn't even imagine it you've been suspicious about this for ages and then the miso cream cheese you ordered finally arrived so your friend took a bite Then she said "Wow you've got to try this Mai-chan " So I thought "Is it really that good " and took a small bite myself And the moment I tasted it— That moment completely changed my perspective onigiri Up until then when I thought of onigiri I used to think that only common ingredients like pickled plums salmon and kelp were suitable for onigiri But when I tasted that spicy cod cream cheese wow I realized there are so many other fillings that go well with onigiri besides salmon or umeboshi I didn’t know until recently that cheeses like this and slightly Western-style ingredients also go well together And from that point on my thinking completely changed— it was an enormous shock incredibly delicious to the point of being deeply moving Since I first tried a bite of that masago cream cheese from a friend I' ve made it a habit to order at least one serving every time I go to Bongo It's truly one of the most recommended ingredients So be sure to try the明太クリームチーズ when you visit Bongo Yes today we talked about Japanese onigiri How did it sound to you Do you have a favorite filling for onigiri If so please let us know in the comments below Yes and that Bongo This onigiri specialty shop I highly recommend Bongo is truly delicious so be sure to visit it when you're in Tokyo on your trip Or if you're currently living in Tokyo please do visit at least once—it's truly recommended Yes thank you so much for listening all the way to the end today See you in the next Botcast Bye-bye