The CM features nine lovely ladies from AKB48: Atsuko Maeda,  Reina Fujie, Haruka Ishida, Amina Satou, Sumire Satou, Misaki Iwasa, Mika Komori, Moeno Nitou, and Ami Maeda.

Instead of eating rice, AKB48 is all I need to get my daily dose of energy ^^

This great-looking photo was taken by jasohill, and I just love the beautiful green color of the rice paddy fields.

The bra, which transforms into a rice growing kit, allows the wearer to cultivate rice anytime, anywhere. It was created in hopes that more people will become familiar with farming and develop awareness of the importance of agriculture, the lingerie maker said.

Source: JapanToday

This product would probably go well together with the earlier Rice and Miso Soup Bra.

This lovely photo of some yummy looking Chimaki was taken by flickr user hippoPAPA +mum (Bento~Life). Here’s a short description from Wikipedia:

Chimaki (ちまき) is a sweet Japanese glutinous rice dish wrapped in a bamboo leaf. They are eaten especially on the Kodomo no hi Festival on May 5.

This yummy shot of a Sekihan bento which was taken by flickr user Snowy****. Here’s a description taken off Wikipedia:

Red Bean Rice (赤飯) is a Japanese traditional dish. It is sticky rice steamed with azuki beans, which give a reddish color to the rice, hence its name.

Red Bean Rice is often served on special occasions throughout the year in Japan, for example, birthdays, weddings and some holidays, such as Shichi-Go-San. Red Bean Rice is so strongly connected with celebration that the phrase “Let’s have sekihan” has acquired the meaning “Let’s celebrate.” It is believed that Red Bean Rice is used for celebrations because of its red color, symbolic of happiness in Japan. In some areas, it is made when a young woman has her menarche, suggesting another source of the tradition.

It is usually eaten immediately after cooking but it may also be eaten at room temperature, such as in a celebratory bento (boxed lunch). Red Bean Rice is traditionally eaten with gomashio (a mixture of lightly toasted sesame and salt).

This yummy shot of a bowl of rice and some light sprinkle of Furikake 振り掛け was taken by flickr user ensman82. For those that are wondering what the heck is Furikake 振り掛け:

Furikake (振り掛け) is a dry Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate.

Other flavorful ingredients such as katsuobushi (sometimes indicated on the package as bonito), or okaka (bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce and dried again), salmon, shiso, egg, powdered miso, vegetables, etc. are often added to the mix.

Furikake is often brightly colored and flaky. It can have a slight fish or seafood flavoring, and is sometimes spicy. It can be used in Japanese cooking for pickling foods for onigiri, or rice balls.

Minori is not the character’s name, and if I remember correctly it stands for newly harvested rice, which I learnt from my mother is tastier than old rice. Here’s a youtube clip on this moe minori rice:

Source: AkibaBlog

I’m guessing that since its newly harvested rice, the manufacturers designed the character to be rather loli-looking. But still she looks really kawaii with that rice bit stuck on her cheek  ^^

The rice packs contain Hitomebore rice from Miyagi and is scheduled to go on sale on 22 May 2009.

Each pack of rice will retail for 1,000 yen and there are two different versions: Date Masamune or Kojuurou Katakura.

Source: Mainichi Mantan

I’m sure believe what you eat will determine what kind of hero you would become. Therefore, I’m gonna get losta Date Masamune rice. LOL

While carrying it home or waiting for the rice to cook, you can take a look at the cute 4koma that is on the back of the packaging.

Source: Gigazine via DannyChoo

I would buy any product that they release if they just put moe girls as cute as this one on the packaging.

As you can see clearly printed on the rice bag: Moe Rice 「萌え米」 LOL

These tiny bags of 300grams of rice are being sold for like 525yen each.

Source: Akiba Kakaku

This seriously feels like they are out to cheat otaku of their money.

At least the JA-Ugo’s Akitakomachi Rice were nicely illustrated. In comparison, this pack of rice is like someone just drew it over the weekend and said “Lets scam the dumb otaku out of their $_$.”