A Chinese noodle chain expanding in China is using Japanese rice in its new menu

Recently the NHK News On-line reported the following:

中国で展開のラーメンチェーン 日本米で新メニュー

12月16日 17時40分

政府が中心になって日本産のコメの輸出促進をはかる中、中国で展開する大手ラーメンチェーンが富山県産のコメ、７２トンを購入し、中国全土で１６日から新たなメニューとして提供することになり、今後の輸出拡大につながると期待されています。

中国で展開する大手ラーメンチェーン「味千拉麺」は１６日から、上海など中国国内のおよそ６００店舗で、富山県産のコシヒカリを使った焼き魚やとんかつ定食など新たなメニューの提供を始めました。定食の価格は、日本円でおよそ６５０円から８２０円で、店頭でのコメの販売も行います。

今回、購入した富山県産のコメは７２トンに上り、去年、日本から中国に輸出したコメの２０％の量にあたるということで、まずは２か月間、提供することにしています。

上海市内の店舗では、１６日、大勢の人たちが、早速日本のコメを味わっていました。このうち１３歳の男子中学生は、「日本の料理が好きですが、このコメは、これまで食べたなかでもいちばんおいしいものの一つです」と話していました。また、男性客は、「もっと多くの場所で、多くの種類の日本のコメが食べられると、さらによいと思います」と話していました。

日本米の輸出を進めているＪＥＴＲＯ＝日本貿易振興機構、上海事務所の小栗道明所長は、「これをきっかけに、今後、日本の安心、安全、おいしい日本産の食材がより広がっていくことを期待しています」と話していました。

My translation

 With the government at the center in promoting the exportation of rice grown in Japan and when a major Chinese noodle chain developing in China bought 72 tons of rice grown in Toyama-ken and offered it in its a new menu starting from the 16th in China across the board, it led to an expectation in export expansion in the future.

The "Michi Chinese Noodle”, a  major Chinese noodle chain now developing in China had begun to offer a new menu by using Koshihikari from Toyama-ken in its set menu that  had grilled fish and pork cutlet at its approximately 600 branches in China that included Shanghai city starting from the 16th. The price of the set menu was from approximately 650 yen to 820 yen in Japanese currency. Rice would also be sold at the shop-front.

It was said that the rice grown in Toyama-ken bought this time went up to 72 tons was equal to an amount of the 20% of the rice which was exported from Japan to China last year, and it was the supply of the first 2 months.

On the 16th, many people tasted Japanese rice right away at a branch shop in Shanghai. Among them a 13-year-old male junior high school student said "I like Japanese dish, in terms of rice, it is the best among those I have eaten up to now." A male visitor was also saying that “I think it is better to have more kinds of Japanese rice and more places to them."

Oguri Michiaki the general manager of the Shanghai branch office of the JETRO= Japanese Trade Promotion Organization that was handling the export of Japanese rice said that " taking this as a start I hold the expectation in spreading the reliability, safety and good taste of food that is made in Japan."

        I think China has become a rice importing country when its modernization programs started in the 1980s. I suppose that many of its paddy fields have been turned into industrial areas or urban areas.