Japanese rice cookers

Rice cookers (炊飯器) in Japan basically come from three makers: Zojirushi, Tiger and Panasonic. On Amazon they range from a few thousand yen up to ¥100,000. The cheap ones mostly heat from the bottom of the pot, the next step up is IH, and the most expensive are pressure IH. If you want rice that tastes noticeably better, get IH at the very least.

Each maker's high-end line has its own signature. Zojirushi's is Enbu-daki (炎舞炊き): the coil under the pot is split into several sections that take turns heating. Tiger's Donabe Gohobi-daki (土鍋ご泡火炊き) uses a real clay pot as the inner pot, which makes it fairly heavy, and it will break if you drop it. Panasonic has Odori-daki (おどり炊き), which uses changes in pressure to tumble the rice around the pot. Everyone's taste in texture is different, so it's worth seeing them in person at an electronics store first.

Capacity is measured in gō (合). For one person or a couple, 3 gō is enough; a family of three or four should get 5.5 gō; the 1-shō (1升) ones are for bigger households. If you usually cook only one or two gō, don't buy a big one just because you might need it someday.

New models usually come out between summer and early autumn, which is when last year's models (型落ち) get cheaper, and the difference in features is usually small. The inner pot's coating wears down after a few years of use. All three makers sell replacement inner pots separately, so before ordering, it's worth checking whether parts are still available for that model.