The Japanese cup, unit of volume
The Japanese cup holds exactly 200 milliliters, a fifth of a liter. It is the cup of Japanese recipes and the one moulded into the measuring cups sold there, and its value is round because it was chosen from the liter.
A Japanese kitchen holds two cups. The measuring cup above holds 200 milliliters; the cup that comes with a rice cooker holds 180, which is the gō of the traditional system rounded down by four tenths of a milliliter. The Measurement Law of 1951 pushed metric units into daily life and the recipe cup settled on 200, but rice kept its own measure, and the water marks inside a rice cooker are graduated for it. Measuring rice with the 200 milliliter cup puts eleven per cent too much in the pot, and no water line will save the result.
The Japanese cup in other units
| 1 cup JP | 0.0002 m³ |
| 1 cup JP | 0.2 l |
| 1 cup JP | 20 cl |
| 1 cup JP | 200 ml |
| 1 cup JP | 0.0528344 gal |
| 1 cup JP | 0.0439938 gal UK |
| 1 cup JP | 0.422675 pt |
| 1 cup JP | 6.7628 fl oz |
| 1 cup JP | 7.03902 fl oz UK |
| 1 cup JP | 0.211338 qt |
| 1 cup JP | 0.175975 qt UK |
| 1 cup JP | 0.351951 pt UK |
| 1 cup JP | 0.845351 cup |
| 1 cup JP | 0.8 cup metric |
| 1 cup JP | 13.5256 tbsp |
| 1 cup JP | 13.3333 tbsp metric |
| 1 cup JP | 10 tbsp AU |
| 1 cup JP | 40.5768 tsp |
| 1 cup JP | 40 tsp metric |
| 1 cup JP | 2 dl |
| 1 cup JP | 0.00125796 bbl |
| 1 cup JP | 0.11087 sho |
| 1 cup JP | 1.1087 go |
Frequently asked questions
Is the Japanese cup exactly 200 ml?
Yes, exactly, which makes it the easiest of the three cups to work with. The American cup holds 236.59 milliliters and the metric cup 250: the Japanese one is the only one that divides the liter cleanly.
Why does the cup from my rice cooker hold less?
Because it is not a measuring cup but a rice measure of 180 milliliters, one gō. Japanese recipes and rice cookers count rice in gō and everything else in the 200 milliliter cup, so the same kitchen uses both without confusing them.
How does the Japanese cup compare with the American one?
It holds fifteen per cent less: 200 milliliters against 236.59. A recipe converted cup for cup from an American source therefore comes out short by more than a third of a cup for every two cups, which shows immediately in a batter.