Onigiri, or rice balls, are one of the most popular snacks enjoyed in Japan. With a variety of fillings that includes tuna and mayonnaise, sour Japanese umeboshi plum, and even cake, Japan's rice balls strike the perfect balance between snack and light meal.

However, convenience stores package rice balls in a way that allows customers to remove the plastic wrapping while also keeping the crunchy nori seaweed wrapping around the rice in tact, and this has proven to be a bit of an inconvenience for unaccustomed visitors. Despite being labeled in steps 1, 2, 3, it can be quite confusing for the uninitiated.

Canadian Olympic Speed Skater and journalist Anastasia Bucsis (@anastasure) recently demonstrated by sharing her frustrated attempt at opening one!

It's a simple 1-2-3 procedure, but if you make a slight mistake or try to pull the two sides at the same time, you can make quite the mess! Many Japanese locals have been assuring Buscis that they too mess up the process, so there's no foul.

However, 7-Eleven Japan, perhaps in response to the Tweet and new attention from Olympic foreign visitors, has provided a new easy instructional video on how to open rice balls!

As for Bucis, she seems to be making some great progress.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.