# Lost in translation
Due to the blunders of naïve interpretations, I always understood rice cookers in Japan sometimes have an option for not washing your rice before cooking. Please respect my vulnerability as I expose my naïvety:
>無 = “without” → 洗 = “washing” → 米 = “rice” → 無洗米 ≠ “Unwashed rice”
So, on my Japanese rice cooker, I was **incorrectly** using the 無洗米 “no-wash” rice whenever I was in a hurry or too lazy to wash my white rice first. The results were unimpressive (since I was using the wrong function), so I deferred to always washing my rice.
Upon revisiting my Japanese rice manual, I noticed a discrepancy. The standard rice cup holds 150 grams / 180 mL, but the special “no-wash rice” cup was **smaller**, yet holds about **the same mass** of rice. Is this a typographical error??! Was I supposed to be measuring washed rice after I’d washed it??!
# What is 無洗米 musenmai rice, exactly?
After finding an English manual for a similar, much older rice cooker, it all became so clear. It turns out that 無洗米 musenmai rice, also known as “pre-washed rice” (according to the English instruction manual), is a Japanese innovation from 33 years ago. One of the rice milling companies invented a dry machine that could **mechanically** peel the sticky layer of ***hada nuka*** without using water or any sort of chemicals. This makes the rice environmentally friendly, since washing regular rice drains the hada nuka into the waterways and causes environmental destruction through an ecosystem imbalance ([you can read about it here](https://www.japanesefoodguide.com/why-wash-rice-musenmai/#Rice_water_as_a_cause_of_water_pollution)).
Basically, not only do you **not need to wash** musenmai rice, but **you shouldn’t**, since it wastes rice nutrients and your time, without improving the flavour or aroma in any way whatsoever.
# How can I know which rice I have?
SO! It turns out my rice cooker always wants me to wash my regular white rice no matter what, but to never wash my musenmai rice. But, uhhhh, how do I know which rice I’ve purchased? I deposit it into a rice box and throw away the packaging… 😅
Thankfully, if you have kitchen scales and a measuring cup, it’s easy to figure it out! Remember the aforementioned “anomaly” I noticed? It turns out that musenmai rice has a lower specific volume compared to standard white rice.
1. Take an empty 180 mL standard rice measuring cup, and re‑zero the tare mass on your digital scale.
2. Completely fill the cup with raw rice, scraping off the top to ensure there’s a level surface.
3. Weigh the rice. **150 grams** = standard white rice; but **155 grams** = musenmai rice.
Also, the amount of water you need **may be different** depending on how you measure the rice. But the simplest way is:
>**171 mL musenmai rice : 1 cup**
>
>**147 grams musenmai rice : 1 cup**
If you use these measurements, then you can fill up your rice cookers to the **exact same water level** for the same number of cups that it would be for standard white rice. This is the easiest way.
If you don’t have a measuring cup that can measure 171 mL, or you don’t have a scale that can measure 147 grams… The “official” recommendation is:
>1. Use a standard rice cup (180 mL) to measure levelled cups of musenmai rice.
>
>2. Put the rice in your rice cooker and fill with water up to the line marking the number of cups of rice measured.
>
>3. Add an extra 15∼30 mL (1∼2 tablespoons) of water per each cup of musenmai rice.
Personally, I hate the vague “1∼2 tablespoon” thing. When would it be 1? When would it be 2? Why didn’t you say 1½ tablespoons or 22.5 mL? But whatever!
I hope this public service announcement helps those of you out there who were getting inconsistent results with their rice cookers! And I for one, am now going to buy the environmentally friendly musenmai rice from now on, to save time in the kitchen!
by JKVeganAbroad