When you're married to an Asian immigrant, this device becomes a standard fixture that inhabits your kitchen. And not just any rice cooker will do! Upon first arriving in Los Angeles, my spouse (then girlfriend) informed me that American brand rice cookers were inferior in that they (apparently) use dated technology. She related that what American companies make now are similar to what was common in Japan in the '70s.
Consequently, we have a Sanyo rice cooker that (I guess) is on the cutting edge of rice cooking technology. Anyway, my sister was impressed. She's sort of a Martha Stewart type (as in "enjoys homemaking, not "inhabits federal prisons") and when she came over to dinner one night and saw what my wife was using, she decided on the spot that she wanted one. We got her a Japanese brand rice cooker for Xmas and she was happy as a clam.
