A Study on the Usage of Rice Cookers in Daily Living

- Through Japanese Movies Produced between1945-2009

Abstract

We analyzed the actual usage of rice cookers to clarify the relationship of lifestyle with the functional improvements of rice cooker and the ways of usage. Through investigating the scenes in the movies that were produced between 1945 to 2009, we get the conclusions below:
1) It is not necessary to transfer cooked rice to a container for keeping it warm, then move it to a dining room anymore after the rice cooker with heat preservation functions and kitchen dining which has the function of both kitchen and dining room appeared. The conventional way of transferring cooked rice with a container has been changed by rice cooker improvement.
2) The requirements for the rice cookers are different from family to family, e. g. convenience or traditional food manners.
3) From the movies produced in early times, rice cookers usually observed in the scene of normal worker's family. This is different from the appearance of TV or refrigerator which started from upper class.