I live in Japan, and my girlfriend is an atypical Japanese that doesn't like rice that much. For her, the madness is that people here won't even consider other sources of carbs like pasta, potatoes, or bread.
I love Japanese food culture to bits, but figuring out when a bowl of rice is vital for a meal to even be considered a meal and when it is not is still a mystery to me after observing my wife and in-laws for more than a decade. Having been taught the "food pyramid" [1] line of thinking as a child, it just makes no sense to this gaijin how we can not substitute one source of carbohydrates with another, but I suppose that is what culture is for you.
Same-same.
[0] https://www.mashed.com/650241/the-mcdonalds-breakfast-item-y...
If you told me to eat rice instead of bread I would probably be just as horrified
Neither English nor Indian and I would rate Naan bread right at the top if I had a choice.
But it's Japan, so I imagine there's plenty of Showa who think all change is to be valiently fought and that not eating rice prevents you from being "proper" Japanese.
Food isn't a commodity. I won't happily substitute nutriloaf for my lunch today.
Interestingly, similar quotes seem to have been attributed to other royalty of other countries, well before the revolution.
PS -- We nearly always have rice with lunch and dinner, though. Japanese-grown. IMHO, it tastes very different from imported rice, and we HAVE tried.
There's no absence of non-rice main meals in Japan; Wafu pasta is an entire category of Japanese pasta dishes whose name literally means Japanese Style Pasta. Udon, Ramen and Soba abound, and Kansai in particular has a large number of Konamon, flour-based meals and snacks (resulting from Allied food aid after the bombings).
In some ways, the reaction to suggestions of swapping out rice are like that redneck uncle of yours who is mad his Cardiologist told him to cut down on red meat because "what else am I supposed to eat?!" even though his wife does all the cooking and they already have pork/chicken/fish 3 nights out of 7. It's an identity thing; in some ways to eat rice is to _be_ Japanese.
This is my personal gold standard for yakisoba: https://sanyofoodsamerica.com/products/sapporo-ichiban-chow-...
But I’ve also seen “yakisoba” served up in US military mess halls and correctional institutions as little more than spaghetti noodles and hamburger as well.