Value Village ／ Everyday know-how
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Japanese rice recipes, rice cookers and rice bags all speak in gō (合) — 1 gō is 180 ml of raw rice, about 150 g — and the plastic cup in the rice-cooker box is exactly that, not a Western 240 ml cup. Newcomers who measure with a kitchen cup get mush or gravel; residents who never learned what a gō yields waste rice or run short.
| Measure | Raw rice | Cooked rice | Serves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 gō (合) | 180 ml ≈ 150 g | ≈ 330–350 g | 2 small bowls / 1 large / 2 onigiri |
| 2 gō | 360 ml ≈ 300 g | ≈ 660–700 g | 3–4 bowls |
| 3 gō | 540 ml ≈ 450 g | ≈ 1 kg | 5–6 bowls (family dinner + tomorrow's bento) |
| 1 shō (升) = 10 gō | 1.8 L ≈ 1.5 kg | — | The sake "isshōbin" bottle |
| 1 to (斗) = 100 gō | 18 L | — | Historic |
| 5 kg bag | ≈ 33 gō | — | About two to three weeks for two adults eating 1.5–2 gō a day |
| Step | How |
|---|---|
| Measure | Fill the plastic cup level (scrape flat, don't pack). Or 180 ml in a measuring jug, or 150 g on a scale — weight is the most reliable |
| Rinse | Quick swirl and pour off 3–4 times until water is mostly clear; modern rice needs little "polishing" (see the rice-washing article) |
| Water line | The inner pot's lines (1, 2, 3…) are for that cup: white rice line = about 1.2× the rice volume (180 ml rice → ~215 ml water). Separate lines for sushi rice (less), brown rice (more), okayu (much more) |
| Adjust | New-crop rice (shinmai, Sept–Nov): a little below the line; old rice or very dry storage: a little above; firmer for sushi/onigiri, softer for kids/elderly |
| Soak | 30 min (summer) to 60 min (winter) in the water before pressing start improves texture; many cookers include soaking in the programme |
| Rest and fluff | 10–15 min after the beep, then fluff from the bottom with a wet shamoji to release steam |
| Cooker size | 3-gō cooker (1–2 people, up to 3 cups), 5.5-gō (families — the Japanese standard), 1-shō (10-gō) for big households. Cook at 50–80% of capacity for the best result |
[Verify] Cooked-rice yield per gō and water ratios with MAFF/maker guidance; unit definitions with the Measurement Act references.
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https://www.maff.go.jp/j/syouan/keikaku/soukatu/gohan/
https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/economy/hyojun-kijun/
https://www.jema-net.or.jp/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
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