Japanese short-grain rice is drastically different in both taste and texture from Indian long-grain varieties like basmati though.

That said, basmati is easy enough to find in Tokyo, and long-grain jasmine is sold everywhere.

Absolutely. If having a particular type of rice is crucial, then it might be worth trying to figure out all the logistics of taking it with you, but for most situations, it seems like an enormous amount of trouble. And absent special dietary restrictions, if you're able to do so, why not eat some Japanese rice when in Japan?

"may be" -> "will be". Source: friends have had their rice discarded because they didn't have this certificate. This certificate has been necessary since October 1, 2018. This was the pamphlet handed to one of them: i.stack.imgur.com/uHTal.jpg

Managed to scan the QR code in the pamphlet, which is a link: maff.go.jp/pps/j/information/shomeisho/shomeisho2.html This page has the pamphlet in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Thanks @Olorin. Some of the information online was a bit vague on that.

@ZachLipton - thanks for the answer and sharing those useful links. Looks like too much effort. I am now reconsidering.

Basmati rice is easy enough to find in most countries. It's one of the most popular types of rice worldwide. This question is pretty bizarre, to be honest.

@only_pro I'm pretty sure I can get basmati rice at Walmart. Maybe not some of the tiny Family Dollar stores in the middle of the mountains, but.... Yeah, this is absolutely bizarre.

@only_pro I live in Japan, not only have I never seen basmati here outside of an Indian curry house, even if it was easy enough to find I challenge you to pick it out from amongst the myriad bags of rice available which all have a) no English on them b) only highly stylised kanji on them. Shopping is a challenge for non-natives. (Tokyo may be different, but still)

One alternative would be to carry a smaller bag (1 or 2 kg) to ensure you don't have to start looking for Indian shop right after landing.

@only_pro the question may be economical in nature. Flights are relatively cheap in Asia so while someone may just be able to afford a trip there, they could still be very cost-aware in their destination.

@only_pro: Basmati rice is not found in most Tokyo supermarkets. You have to spend two hours to go to a specialized store (if you have the linguistic skills required to find one) and buy it there at a high price.

10kg of basmati rice in Tokyo would probably be around 5 times the cost of the same rice in Bangalore (or more!). I guess it's a question of whether spending the extra ₹1200 for the convenience of buying it when you arrive is worth it.

@J... OP must be going to breathe and drink rice if they plan to use 10 kg rice in 20 days (even accounting for two people).

@J... you are right. The idea was to minimize the expense. But however, reading at the answers and comments looks like it is too much of hassle to carry. So we are now reconsidering it. However, checking out on how to apply and get the Phytosanitary Certificate in Bangalore. If only that doesn't come with too much of a fuss, would go ahead with applying, else, dropping the plan to carry the rice.

Even if you can't easily get exactly Basmati rice in Japan or it's too expensive, I'd be really surprised if getting a decent quality rice was a problem there. Don't get me wrong, but if it's a problem to eat a slightly different kind of food while abroad, why even bother going there? Leaving religious concerns aside of course i.e. some people are forbidden to eat specific kinds of meat. But I guess there's no such restriction for rice flavors. Knowing Japanese food a little bit, I can tell it's very tasty.

@ElmoVanKielmo - there is no hard and fast rule that we want to eat a specific type of rice. But we are just exploring the options. We have no issues eating different rice, but the idea, as I mentioned previously, is to keep it economical.

@SanthoshSundar ok, sorry, it seems like I misunderstood "We just wanted to carry good quality rice that is not steamed and heavily processed" part. I don't know the price difference between rice in Japan and India.