This is another one that comes up from time to time.

In their defense, I never understood before coming here just how CRUCIAL rice is to almost every Japanese meal. Every school lunch (except Bread Tuesday, which my coworkers tend groan about) has a serving of white rice attached, and even places like ramen shops usually offer rice on the side for an extra fee. It's really not a meal unless it includes rice! We just don't have any equivalent of that, at least not in my family ;0 So I can understand how it must be disorienting.