@Janka Unless you understand the circumstances, there is absolutely no need to comment on questions that you are not capable of providing a constructive answer.

@SanthoshSundar: I read Janka's comment as a (valid) question for clarification (although phrased in a humorous way): Why would you want to bring something that is readily available in Japan to Japan? You are right, we do not understand the circumstances, so please explain them to us. :-) Giving a bit of background is encouraged to avoid XY problems.

We should also discuss the regulations on carrying ice to the Arctic and coal to Newcastle.

@Heinzi - thanks for sharing that. We just wanted to carry good quality rice that is not steamed and heavily processed. Also, it turns out to be less expensive. But if there are so many restrictions around, it is better not to.

One reason to travel is to experience different things; eating different rice and prepared differently is one of those experience.

Re:Cheaper - you are aware that 10kg of air luggage is quite expensive? You're either going to take very few clothes for 18 days, or wind up paying lots extra to cover the cost of flying it.

@Heinzi ist completely right.

@Heinzi I agree that the comment was valid commentary, but it was rather oblique. The link between owls and Athens is pretty obscure, I have to say -- and I lived there for two years.

I'd read it as 10kg of rice each, ans was assuming the european standard 20kg of Luggage, as opposed to the US-standard 50lbs (34kg). You are correct, 10kg between two seems reasonable.

@DavidRicherby: Apparently, Janka's joke got lost in translation: "Eulen nach Athen tragen" ("carrying owls to Athens") is the German equivalent of "taking coal to Newcastle". German is my main language, so I understood it immediately.

@SanthoshSundar , Japan is probably the only place on earth you can get rice as good as in India. You'll be fine. (You used to be able to get bread as good as in India, in France. But not any more. So if you go to France, you'll have to take your own bread.) (Mind you, the bread, obviously, would not stay fresh. So maybe don't go to France! :) )

I wish all countries had readily-available high-quality elephants as good as Indian ones. Maybe only Thailand and some African countries. These things are hard to fit into checked-in luggage.

You're going to ... Japan. Japan has amazing rice. Just... buy it there? And if you want Indian rice, are you aware that many countries import Indian rice? It's the same exact thing, and it's easy to find in most countries.

@DavidRicherby “bringing owls to Athens” is an extremely common idiom/proverb. The link would be immediately obvious to most people.

@Heinzi The same proverb is common in English; not quite as common as “coals to Newcastle” but close.

@Fattie France famously has (some of?) the best bread in the world. And I say that as a German.

@CMaster 50lbs is approx 23kg, which is standard in Europe on full-service airlines.

@KonradRudolph As a 40-year-old native speaker of English, I have literally never heard this proverb so I dispute your claim that it's at all common in English. I also doubt that the link would be obvious to most people who don't know the proverb: for example, the only occurence of the word "owl" in the Wikipedia page on Athens is an external link to "Athenian owl coins" right at the end.

@DavidRicherby Beware of mistaking anecdotes for evidence! Anyway, it’s likely that the proverb is only current in segments of the population with a classical education. I didn’t want to belabour the point because people tend to mistake “classical education” with “superior” education. My point stands: it’s an acceptable thing to write, and at least somewhat common (as evidenced by corpus analysis).

I'm an anglophone, I've never heard the proverb, I'd have understood it on reading it though because my Dad was a Classics professor -- I know it's a symbol of Athene, I probably first saw it in a children's colouring book or something like that.

Also an owl is in the logo of the Archaeological Institute of America, so ... :-)

@KonradRudolph - unfortunately IMO bread quality has gone down in France, from the "old days". They now have supermarkets, malls and such filth. (As you know, of course most regions of Germany make superb bread.) (I don't really know if it has "gone downhill" in Germany.)

@DavidRicherby I would guess it's mostly "classical education" along with possibly exposure to European languages?. Surprisingly the same idiom exists in Czech as well as German though I would guess it's about as common as in English (i.e. not super). The more common saying being "nosit dříví do lesa" ("taking wood into the forest"). As a side note the idiom also exists in Dutch.

I would say SE rules apply; you're expected to show what effort you have made on the problem. When you have a problem with an obvious, easy solution, you need to show why the easy solution won't work for you.

For instance if you live in Belgium and you say "I will be spending a month in Detroit. How do I bring my car there, because I worry they might not have cars in Detroit". -- you really, really, really need to explain that your car has a bunch of special modifications to fit your disability.