
What do you like to put on your rice when you eat it? Do you go for Western-style with butter and salt, or maybe Japanese-style with an egg or some natto? How about flavoring your rice with… a burp?
It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Supposedly if you smell someone’s burp while you’re eating, you can flavor your own food with a dash of whatever they ate. This sounded just bizarre enough to be true, so we gave it a try here at RocketNews24 headquarters. We have the extremely appetizing videos to prove it, so prepare to watch and be amazed!
We were inspired to try this experiment by famous Japanese YouTuber Hikakin, who attempted the same thing in this video:
Here’s what we did: three of our Japanese writers ate a different rice topping (raw egg, natto, and fried egg), then downed a bunch of burping powder to get the juices flowing.
After that another Japanese writer came in with some white rice, had each of the original three burp in his face, and then eat some rice right away and try to guess what they ate. If their burp was flavorful enough, he should had no problem guessing correctly.
That’s science for you, ladies and gentlemen. Here’s the video of the entire ordeal with some highlights below:
▼ The first burp: raw egg. Look at our reporter Go on the left enjoying that egg-y aroma.
▼ Next up: natto. Yeah, that’s about the correct face you should have whenever you smell natto.
▼ And lastly: fried egg. Not sure if Go is enjoying this or about to keel over.
▼ And what was the final result? Did the burping really deliver the taste of the original food? The answer is….
.
.
.
.
.
Absolutely not. Even though it definitely made the rice-eating unpleasant, burping actually did almost nothing to change the flavor of the rice. In fact, the only flavor that rice-eating Go claimed to have gotten from the burping was something none of them ate: apple. Where did that come from you ask?
▼ From the apple-flavored burping powder. Hey, even the best experiments have a few technical oversights.
Despite the experiment’s failure, we still consider it a great success. It gave us a perfectly valid excuse to burp in other people’s faces while eating, and now you can do it too! Just say you read about this really amazing “lifehack” on a Japanese website, and let the hilarious dinner table burping commence.
Source: HikakinTV
Images: ©RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]





We head out to Kyoto to eat a delicious crepe crammed with fermented soybeans, rice【Taste Test】
Bugs for dessert? Taste-testing Japan’s wasp dumplings and locust rice crackers【Taste test】
Ultimate lazy sukiyaki – Can you make the king of Japanese hot pots in a rice cooker?【Taste test】
The most expensive natto in Japan – Eating the “black diamonds” of Tanba Kuro【Taste test】
Edo Rice shows you what rice tasted like in the samurai era by continuing centuries of tradition
12-year-old British girl who went missing in Tokyo found safe after visiting anime sites around Yokohama
Stay at a hotel with a bed for your plushie in Japan
Japan’s Rabbit Island in danger of becoming Boar Island, tourists asked to follow feeding rules
Japanese gacha machine in Shibuya now sells tiny capsule terrariums
Visiting Japan’s muscular mascot character dog at his free museum near Kansai International Airport
Best burger in Tokyo? JB’s serves up a cheap craft burger that not a lot of people know about
Study finds hundreds of people in Indonesia legally named after Naruto, Inuyasha, other anime stars
12-year-old foreign tourist missing in Japan, police asking for help finding her [Video]
Time-lapse footage shows just how fast rebuilding in Kumamoto can go
Body of missing foreign tourist in Japan found floating off coast of town he was last seen in
Studio Ghibli adds new Jiji’s baby plush toy to its anime merchandise range in Japan
The Japanese city where ordering grilled chicken doesn’t guarantee you’ll actually get chicken
Japan’s new beer glass is designed to force you to drink…water [Video]
Japanese airlines set to cut fuel surcharges for international flights in September and October
Beautiful off-the-beaten-path spot near samurai castle in rural Japan looks like a Monet painting
New Japanese vending machine at Shinkansen station sells cups of ice on platform
This beautiful rural Japan river is a great alternative to touristy summer retreats [Photos]
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japan now has human refrigerators inspired by Japanese vending machines
New Shinkansen luggage drop-off system begins in Japan, making train travel even easier
Hatsune Miku collaborates with Hokusai’s art in new Vocaloid ukiyo-e illustration series [Pics]
Studio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films
Air-conditioned dress shirts arrive in Japan to save working professionals from sweltering heat
Japanese Shinkansen becomes an overnight hotel for three nights this summer
Pokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
Japanese toilet aims to attract foreign tourists but not everybody is happy about it
99-year-old woman rescued while attempting to climb Mt. Fuji
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
How do other flavors of ice cream rice compare to Meiji’s matcha ice cream rice recipe?
Should you warm up your convenience store onigiri rice balls in the microwave?【Taste test】
You COULD eat a terrifying octopus egg in Japan, but SHOULD you? Let’s find out!【Taste test】
Do we say yay or nay to the additive-free rice balls that can last 100 days at room temperature?
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
Who makes Japan’s best Spam-style onigiri convenience store rice ball? Let’s find out【Taste test】
Why throw away your leftover ramen broth when you can use it to make awesome ramen rice instead?
With Japanese rice prices going crazy, can California rice win over our Japanese taste-testers?
Beef and sashimi in the same rice bowl: Brilliance or blasphemy? We find out【Taste test】
This rice omelet, grilled eel, oden, and fried pork are actually cakes! We try them all
This Christmas you can celebrate by putting a powdered Christmas cake on your rice in Japan
We eat at three Japanese family restaurants to find the one with the best-value breakfast
Ultimate lazy chanko – Can you make Japan’s sumo wrestler hot pot stew in a rice cooker?
We try Kaldi’s microwavable Omelet Rice to find out if it really cooks that easily【SoraKitchen】
Drinkable rice balls appear in Japan, allow you to chug the country’s favorite snack on the go