How Japan’s Onigiri Bongo Makes 500,000 Rice Balls a Year | Eater

"One of Tokyo’s most famous onigiri shops is run by chef and owner Yumiko Ukon, who with her late husband has been popularizing non-traditional onigiri flavors since 1960. The shop makes about 1,500 rice balls a day in 55 flavors — including mayonnaise-and-tuna, curry with beef tendon stew, and salmon roe with takana — and its inventive variety attracts customers who sometimes wait up to five hours. The restaurant’s name was inspired by Ukon’s husband’s love of drumming; she says he wanted the name to be heard from far like the sound of a drum. Family themes and nostalgia are central to the operation: Ukon recalls, "I grew up eating so much food that my mother made with love," and calls her mother’s onigiri her favorite, saying, "Whenever I eat onigiri, I see her face," a homey sensibility that informs the shop’s offerings." - Terri Ciccone