If you’re visiting Japan and go to any convenience store, you’re bound to see hundreds of little triangle Japanese rice balls filling up the displays near the “pick-up-and-go” sandwich isle.
What are Japanese Rice Balls or Onigiri?
O-nigiri, also known as o-musubi, nigirimeshi, or simply rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylinder shapes and often wrapped in nori.
Onigiri are popular Japanese snack items, but not just in Japan! We eat them regularly in Hawaii, but refer to them as musubi (the kid-foodies also show you how to make their all-time favorite snack, spam musubi here).
Onigiri or Musubi can be found in 7-11’s throughout Japan and Hawaii.
How to Open Store-Bought Onigiri
During our visit to Japan we often saw tourists sitting at local train stations and parks opening the cute packaged rice balls the wrong way.
Most of the time the instructions are on the bottom of the package, but in Japanese. For the sake of making things easy, here’s LouLou in our latest YouTube vlog showing you how it’s done!
The next time you find yourself in Japan, or even on our islands, stop by a 7-11 for a quick, delicious onigiri snack. There are quite a few 7-11’s throughout Honolulu, check out the locations list here.
Have you tried a store-bought onigiri before or do you make your own at home like we sometimes do? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
More from our kid-friendly Japan series:
- Kid Foodie Fridays: Harajuku’s Kawaii Monster Cafe
- Kid Foodie Fridays: Japanese Toilet Candy
- Taiyaki: Japan’s Wonderful Waffle
- Gashapon: Japan’s Crazy Obsession with Toy Vending Machines
- Chitose Airport: The Most Family-Friendly Airport You’ll Ever Visit
- Japan With Kids: Go to a Japanese Sumo Wrestling Match
- Kid Foodie Fridays: Japanese Black Garlic
- Kid Foodie Fridays: Japanese “Mini” Pizza Candy Kits
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