In Japan, the arrival of newly harvested rice is one of the quieter signs that the season has changed. Bags marked shinmai begin appearing in supermarkets and rice shops, often with the harvest year, region, and rice variety printed prominently on the package. At home, people may notice that the cooked grains look especially glossy, smell fresh, and feel soft and moist. The word shinmai literally means "new rice." It does not refer to a special variety. It means rice from the current year's harvest that reaches consumers while it is still considered new. For people outside Japan, this attention ...
