How Onigiri Master Yumiko Ukon Makes 500,000 Rice Balls a Year — First Person

At Onigiri Bongo in Japan, Yumiko Ukon and her late husband have popularized non-traditional onigiri flavors of the stuffed rice snack since 1960. Now the shop makes 1,500 rice balls a day in 55 flavors including mayonnaise and tuna, curry and beef tendon stew, and salmon roe and takana. The different flavors have become so popular that customers wait up to five hours in line to try them.