3. Foods

   There are many delicious foods in addition to Koshihikari in Niigata prefecture. For example, foods made from rice such as rice cracker, rice cake and so on. The production of rice in Niigata prefecture is the largest in Japan, so many foods made from rice are made in Niigata prefecture.

Rice crackers made in Niigata prefecture are famous, and the production of rice cracker in Niigata prefecture is largest in Japan. There are many companies making rice crackers in Niigata prefecture, for example, Bourbon, Kameda Seika, Sanko Seika and so on. A lot of rice crackers sold in stores are made in Niigata prefecture. You can find the names of company in Niigata prefecture, when you look at the package of rice crackers. Niigata prefecture is the birth place of Kakinotane, and now many companies make Kakinotane. There are a lot of famous rice crackers in addition to Kakinotane, for example, Puchi series, Happy Turn, Bakauke and so on.

These days bread made from rice is developed. It was very difficult that people make rice fine powder like flour, but someone developed the way of making rice fine powder. Thereby making bread from rice became possible. Bread made from rice powder is chewier than bread made from flour. Bread made from rice powder called Komeko bread in Japan. Komeko bread became the menu of school meal a few years ago in Niigata prefecture, and it became very popular food now.

Moreover, there are many popular foods in addition to foods made from rice in Niigata prefecture. A food named Italian is famous in Niigata prefecture, but Italian is not Italian food. Italian is the fried noodle, what is called yakisoba, with tomato sauce. Two companies named Mikazuki and Friend make Italian, and there are some differences between Italian of Mikazuki and Italian of Friend. So there are people like Mikazuki’s Italian and people like Friend’s Italian. Poppoyaki is also popular in Niigata prefecture. Poppoyaki is mainly sold in the stalls of festivals. Poppoyaki resemble brown cane sugar flavored steamed bread, but Poppoyaki is chewier than steamed bread. Poppoyaki is easy to make, so everyone can make Poppoyaki at home. Le Lectier is made in Niigata prefecture. Le Lectier is a brand of European pear, and it is very delicious.

In this way, there are a lot of delicious foods in Niigata prefecture. I want people to eat these delicious food.

 

I used the following website.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B1%B3%E8%8F%93

2. Rice called Koshihikari

   Niigata prefecture is famous for rice named Koshihikari. Production of rice in Niigata prefecture is the highest in Japan, and it is thought that Koshihikari made in Niigata prefecture is most delicious rice in Japan. Furthermore, Koshihikari made in Uonuma city and Minamiuonuma city is more delicious. Because this area is very hot in daytime by foehn phenomena and not hot in night. Koshihikari made in Fukui prefecture. At first, one kind of rice named Etsunan 17 was developed, but it was not adopted in Fukui prefecture in spite of birth place of it. Because Etsunan 17 had bad result in the test. However, Niigata prefecture and Chiba prefecture adopted Etsunan 17. Niigata prefecture was asked to name Etsunan 17 by Fukui prefecture, and Niigata prefecture named it Koshihikari.

Strong points of Koshihikari are good balance of dextrin and protein, and good amount of moisture. Koshihikari has good balance of amylose, amylopectin and protein. Amylose and amylopectin are ingredients of dextrin. The higher proportion of amylose in the rice, the less glutinous the rice becomes. The higher proportion of amylopectin, the more glutinous the rice becomes. And the amount of moisture in the rice is adjusted to best amount by farmer.　So Koshihikari is very delicious and Koshihikari’s feeling in the mouth is chewier than other rice, and the rice don’t become taste bad when the rice get cold.

But Koshihikari has bad point. It is very difficult to cultivate Koshihikari. There are some reasons make cultivating Koshihikari difficult. Koshihikari is easy to fall down because the stem of it is tall and the ears of it are heavy. When rain falls heavily and wind blows heavily, Koshihikari will fall down. If Koshihikari fall down, people raise it by their hands when they harvest it, so harvesting it become more difficult. People put on manure divide into several times so that the ears of Koshihikari don’t become heavy. Moreover, Koshihikari is vulnerable to rice blast. Rice blast is one of illness of rice plants, and it is the most terrible illness of rise plants. If Koshihikari contract rice blast, size of harvest will decrease and taste of rice become badly. These days, Koshihikari was improved and new kind of Koshihikari named Koshihikari BL was developed. Koshihikari BL is almost the same as Koshihikari, but Koshihikari BL is not vulnerable to rice blast. BL is an abbreviation of Blast resistance Lines.

   People overcome these difficulties, and they make the very delicious rice.

I used the following website.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%92%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AA

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%84%E3%82%82%E3%81%A1%E7%97%85

 

1. Introduction of Niigata prefecture

   Niigata prefecture is located in Honsyu, which is main island of Japan. Population is about 2.3milion and it is the 14th in Japan. Square is about 12600square kilometer and it is 5th in Japan. Niigata prefecture is consists of four areas, Joetsu area, Tyuetsu area, Kaetsu area and Sado area. Sado area is one island, which is the second largest island in Japan except for four main island of Japan. Prefectural capital is Niigata city. It is very hot in summer, and it is very cold and snow in winter. The climate is very severe. But people can enjoy swimming in the sea in summer, and people can enjoy skiing in winter. There are many skiing ground in Niigata prefecture, and Joetsu area is the birth place of skiing in Japan. Thanks to this climate, people can enjoy various sports.

   Niigata prefecture is famous for rice, which is called Koshihikari. Koshihikari is very famous rice. It is thought that Koshihikari is the most delicious rice by Japanese people. Rice farming is very important industry of Niigata prefecture and rice production of Niigata prefecture is the highest in Japan. In connection with rice, rice wine and rice cracker is also famous. There are many companies, which making rice cracker or rice wine in Niigata prefecture. Production of rice cracker is the highest in Japan. Almost rice cracker sold in stores is made in Niigata prefecture. Production of rice wine is the third highest in Japan. These days bread made from rice is developed. However, it was very difficult that people make rice powder; someone developed the way of making rice powder. Thereby making bread from rice became possible. Bread made from rice powder is chewier than bread made from flour.

   There are other important industries of Niigata prefecture, for example, metal tableware, crude oil, chemical, and so on. Tsubame city is famous for production of metal table ware, such as, knife, fork and spoon. The metal tableware made in Tsubame city has very high quality, so the tableware made in Tsubame city is used by people all over the world, and it is used at dinner party of Nobel award ceremony. Production of crude oil in Niigata prefecture is the highest in Japan, in connection with this, production of home heater which use petroleum is also high.

   In this way, Niigata prefecture has many features. I want people to know about Niigata prefecture.

I used the following website.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E6%BD%9F%E7%9C%8C