Oishinbo - Vol. 36 Ch. 330 - The Japan-U.S. Rice War (Part 1)

[MangaDex]

 

[babibola]

Another long arc..
And thank God if you want to see hownits end, this arc is already being animated as OVA

 

[LavTheBurger]

Its come up in other chapters, like the Natto couple, but did Japanese really have a aversion to bread or is it just like...Kariya?

Because he keeps bringing up rice and bread as if preferring bread makes you less spiritually Japanese which...is poppycock.

 

[CosmicWitch]

I gotta be real, in no other manga will you have intense debates that escalate wildly over US foreign policy around tariffs. Like, this is silly. why does Anne give this much of a shit about a random Japanese's guy political opinions? why are any of these people given the power to sway policy in the first place? don't they work for the cultural section of a newspaper? It's as if maureen dowd's articles held the balance over domestic policy.

but that's what makes me love it. it's so over the top and the situations are so clearly just a microphone for the mangaka's intense political opinions that it's just weirdly charming in some way.

 

[BippidiBoppetyBoob]

Its come up in other chapters, like the Natto couple, but did Japanese really have a aversion to bread or is it just like...Kariya?

Because he keeps bringing up rice and bread as if preferring bread makes you less spiritually Japanese which...is poppycock.

I always thought that the Japanese loved good bread. Like especially pastries, but I’ve seen hundreds of Japanese videos where the person is eating something with bread.

I gotta be real, in no other manga will you have intense debates that escalate wildly over US foreign policy around tariffs. Like, this is silly. why does Anne give this much of a shit about a random Japanese's guy political opinions? why are any of these people given the power to sway policy in the first place? don't they work for the cultural section of a newspaper? It's as if maureen dowd's articles held the balance over domestic policy.

but that's what makes me love it. it's so over the top and the situations are so clearly just a microphone for the mangaka's intense political opinions that it's just weirdly charming in some way.

Remember way, way back early in the manga there was a chapter where Iteyama’s department store, I think was somehow able to display a mummy like a museum? That was the wildest one.

 

[spurgleburgle]

Its come up in other chapters, like the Natto couple, but did Japanese really have a aversion to bread or is it just like...Kariya?

Because he keeps bringing up rice and bread as if preferring bread makes you less spiritually Japanese which...is poppycock.

I think the point was less about bread vs rice, more about rice being analogous to bread in that both can be seen as integral to the diets of Asian and European people respectively. People in western countries today don't necessarily eat bread everyday, but European peasants and American colonists probably did. And you can observe the same cultural significance of bread in western culture and the English language: sacramental bread, breadwinner, bread and butter, "man cannot live on bread alone" (I guess that makes the opposite point, but you get the idea). I think the author is assuming that westerners treat bread with the same reverence that Japanese people treat rice- he might have even believed that we eat bread with every meal.

Incidentally, I've read a couple of other cooking manga that compare bread and rice: Hell's Kitchen Chapter 39 has two characters fight over which is better for breakfast, and Nobunaga no Chef Chapter 37 has a character compare Europeans treating bread as the flesh of Jesus to how Japanese people view rice.

 

[Diabeetiz]

This is just trade protection and tariffting. I guess the author is pro tariff but I guess it makes sense. The japanese rice industry is way too frail and uncompetitive. But all that bogus about rice being the solely japanese culture is wild. Rice is grown and eaten all over east asia. Its important but nothing nationalistic

 

[BippidiBoppetyBoob]

This is just trade protection and tariffting. I guess the author is pro tariff but I guess it makes sense. The japanese rice industry is way too frail and uncompetitive. But all that bogus about rice being the solely japanese culture is wild. Rice is grown and eaten all over east asia. Its important but nothing nationalistic

It wasn’t even tariffs. It was a total import ban.

 

[LavTheBurger]

I think the point was less about bread vs rice, more about rice being analogous to bread in that both can be seen as integral to the diets of Asian and European people respectively. People in western countries today don't necessarily eat bread everyday, but European peasants and American colonists probably did. And you can observe the same cultural significance of bread in western culture and the English language: sacramental bread, breadwinner, bread and butter, "man cannot live on bread alone" (I guess that makes the opposite point, but you get the idea). I think the author is assuming that westerners treat bread with the same reverence that Japanese people treat rice- he might have even believed that we eat bread with every meal.

Incidentally, I've read a couple of other cooking manga that compare bread and rice: Hell's Kitchen Chapter 39 has two characters fight over which is better for breakfast, and Nobunaga no Chef Chapter 37 has a character compare Europeans treating bread as the flesh of Jesus to how Japanese people view rice.

Those are...fair points. Bread is deep in the core of languages.

....I DO eat alot of bread. And love a Nobunaga no chef reference. What a excellent series that was.

I did watch the OVA of this and I am curious to compare it if things were changed up, given I know how this arc ends.

Going in, I can already tell Yamaoka will be different because the anime doesnt..really lean into the slapstick and lets Yamaoka come of...kind of cool? (Helps hes voiced by Kakashi). The manga very much does not.

That and in the respective scene, the Tsuchida guy is wearing regular clothes and not ceremonial japaneae stuff, because...I think th OVA doesnt make the scene a new years thing..but my memory IS fuzzy on it. Doesnt change much, but it IS a change.

 

[bernkastel-11]

Those are...fair points. Bread is deep in the core of languages.

....I DO eat alot of bread. And love a Nobunaga no chef reference. What a excellent series that was.

I did watch the OVA of this and I am curious to compare it if things were changed up, given I know how this arc ends.

Going in, I can already tell Yamaoka will be different because the anime doesnt..really lean into the slapstick and lets Yamaoka come of...kind of cool? (Helps hes voiced by Kakashi). The manga very much does not.

That and in the respective scene, the Tsuchida guy is wearing regular clothes and not ceremonial japaneae stuff, because...I think th OVA doesnt make the scene a new years thing..but my memory IS fuzzy on it. Doesnt change much, but it IS a change.

It also combined with the plot of Rice Accompaniment arc

 

[d_a_renoir]

Why is Kariya REALLY mad about the rice? Like he's harping about it over and over, to the point of literally inserting himself in that other chapter with Yuzan, and this guy doesn't even live in Japan (said so himself that he already moved to live in Australia during this time).

Like if bro cares so much about Japan he shouldn't have emigrated, he should have ran for office and actually tried to make the laws better, then. Him just bitching and moaning about laws and regulations and Teh Uhmayzing Culture in Japan while not even living in there is crazy. Keyboard warrior behaviour.