NIIGATA -- Late for school, a young girl bursts from her house with a slice of bread clamped between her teeth. This busy-morning scene is a staple of Japanese anime and manga, but has recently been revamped, with an onigiri rice ball supplanting the bread.
The Niigata prefectural government has created a series of promo videos featuring young characters biting down on a rice ball as they sprint toward their destination. The nation's top rice-producing prefecture hit upon the idea of targeting young people over concerns that consumers were eating less rice.
"We want to promote our rice ball campaign nationwide in hopes of boosting rice consumption," a prefectural government official said.
