When you look at recipes, measurements such as “1 cup” or “2 Tablespoons” etc. are used for measuring volumes but these measurements vary from country to country. So today’s post is about these measurements in Japan.
For most volumetric ingredients, the following volume measurements are used in Japan:
カップ /kappu – cup – 200 ml (250 ml in Australia and 240 ml in America)大さじ/おおさじ/oosaji – Tablespoon – 15 ml (20 ml in Australia and 14.8 ml in America)
小さじ/こさじ/kosaji – teaspoon – 5 ml (5 ml in Australia and 4.9 ml in America)
However, when we measure the volumes of Japanese ingredients, such as 米（こめ/kome – uncooked rice）、酒（さけ/sake – Japanese rice wine）, the following measurements are also used:
合（ごう）/gou – 180ml升（しょう）/shou – 1800ml （= 10合）
When you are cooking rice, some recipes use カップ/kappu (cup) and others use 合/gou. Over the years, I have bought a few electric rice cookers in Australia and all of them came with a plastic cup of 180ml and marks inside the cooker corresponded to this cup size.
Sake is usually sold in a 四合瓶（よんごうびん/しごうびん, 720ml）or 一升瓶（いっしょうびん, 1.8l）.
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