This was my first rice cooker ever and I deliverated over buying one for months, doing lots of research. Save yourself the research time and get this rice cooker. So far I have tried all varieties of rice and they turned out perfectly! I have also made porridge and quinoa, and also tried making a risotto, which surprised me by working out well. For those like me, who have never had a rice cooker before, the best part of it all is that it has rice ready for you when you get home from work - the keep warm function is excellent, and doesn't dry out the rice.

I am a novice when it comes to cooking rice. I thought rice is rice right? Boy, was i wrong. I have used a bottom line aroma rice cooker for years, and after the rice sticking to the pan after so long, and rice being soggy i decided to splurge and purchase this beauty the NS-Yac10. I cooked yasmine rice which normally came out in globs out of my old cooker. I do admit i added my normal as well, a couple pads of butter and garlic salt. When i took the rice out of the cooker i was amazed, it was not gobby or mushi, it was actually separating and on the UMAMI setting it tasted so delicious i wanted to eat the rice by itself. Buy one, you will not regret it.

Not much to say, this is a great cooker. This is our third cooker and our second Zojirushi. We had our previous Zojirushi for six years and used it extensively, but we had to leave it behind when we moved to the US. When we arrived in CA we bought an inexpensive B&D, it was ok for the cost and just about managed to make ok white rice, forget brown rice or sushi rice. If you have owned a great cooker you will never want to move away from great rice so we quickly upgraded to the Zojirushi Umami cooker and it has delivered great rice ever since. We mostly cook brown rice (which takes quite a while), but we have tried white and sushi rice as well and it all comes out perfect.

It is quite expensive, but you really get what you pay for.

This is a great product, I am very satisfied. Strongly recommend to any one.Every thing comes as expected. I had a party the other day, every one had more rice than expected and they all praised our rick cooker.

I really researched and deliberated the purchase of a rice cooker, and even after firmly settling on a Zojirushi, my quest still wasn't over, as they have a number of different lines - Micom, Induction, Pressurized, and now ... Umami.

Pressurized was too costly for not much of a perceived benefit, and regular Micom was maybe not all of the features we desired. It came down to the Induction and the Umami 5.5 cup models.

The extra Umami setting was what sold us, plus a number of small things. This is their latest and greatest model, so it incorporates all of the lessons they have learned over the years from small things like lid design, button placement, durability of internal components, and other small benefits. And the Umami setting is amazing!

We will pretty much use this for two settings - GABA for all of our brown rice and Umami for our our white.

The timer and keep warm feature are just so convenient. I love how you can put your rice and water in the night before, and then come home from work the next day with PERFECT rice ready to go right at dinner time.

I've never had such good rice before. The Umami setting really does make the rice that much more chewy. The design is just wonderful, and cooking rice is a one-click affair. Keep warm and Extended Keep Warm settings are great for keeping your rice warm for hours. The timer setting is my favorite because I can just put the rice in during the night and wake up the next morning to fresh rice at a time that I set! I got the 5.5 cup model because I'm just a student, so it's great for one person. You can cook all the way from 1 cup of rice to 5.5 cups of rice at a time. Or you can make porridge from just half a cup of rice.

Fantastic rice cooker with many features. The rice turns out amazing and delicious. The Umami flavor is incredible and worth the extra investment. Another design feature I like is that it's easy to clean. I know there are induction and pressure cookers out there but they don't have the Umami flavor. This rice cooker uses less wattage than the induction cookers so you`ll save on electricity. I chose the 10 cup because it can cook even 1 cup of rice perfectly. When I have guests I may cook up to 8 cups of rice so this rice cooker is very versatile. Splurge and get the best rice cooker on the market.

When the cooking begins you will hear a cute melody: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". When the rice is done you will hear: "Amaryllis".

I will keep this short and sweet.
Without a doubt the best rice I've ever had, including rice from
nice Japanese restaurants(I lived in LA for years), comes out of my
very own Zojirushi NS-YAC10.
I live now at almost 7000 feet, so cooking many things are a challenge as boiling point is lower here, but not with this terrific cooker.
This product is amazing and so easy to use. All types of rice comes out perfect and stays perfect for hours waiting for you to pop the lid and scoop some out. Considering a rice cooker purchase?
Don't wait. Get this one. It's worth every penny.

I have been cooking rice in this for a couple of weeks now and have found it to be an excellent rice cooker. I was a bit skeptical at first in regards to the umami setting, but thought that it would be worth a try. I can now say that I am glad that I decided to wait for this rice cooker to come out. As Crystal Watanabe mentioned in her review--the umami setting does add a slightly sweet aftertaste to the rice as opposed to the regular white or quick cook setting--which lacks the 'umami' flavor. Also, the sweet rice setting does cook sweet rice very well without needing much pre-soaking.

I do agree with the previous reviewer--Crystal Watanabe--that the power cord is a bit unwieldy and the 'non-stick' rice paddle isn't quite non-stick; though that is a minor inconvenience. I didn't find the lid to be hard to snap shut--it closes very easily for me. Perhaps the lid in her's is defective.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this rice cooker. Also, for anyone wondering--the rice cooker does say it is made in Japan--right above the start button.

Zojirushi sent me this cooker to review a couple of months ago and after cooking with it several times a week for two months, I can honestly say that I am extremely happy with the cooker's performance. Coming with loads of settings for quick cook, GABA brown, no rinse, porridge, mixed, slow cook, etc, what sets this cooker apart is the new Umami setting, which cooks the rice slower to give you a more savory pot of rice.

Cooking on the Umami setting will take longer, approximately 1 hour for 2 cups of rice. It does, however, taste better than if you use the Quick Cook function, which does well when you're in a hurry for dinner. The difference is in the aftertaste of the rice. When eaten plain, there is a distinctly sweeter taste in your mouth after chewing and it brings one dangerously close to just standing by the cooker eating gobs of plain, hot rice.

The downsides include a thick and unwieldy power cord that isn't retractable, a cover that doesn't easily snap shut, and a not-so-non-stick non-stick rice paddle. It also took a couple pots of rice for the new plastic smell to go away. You'll find that happens when you cook other items as well, as I had beef scented rice after cooking some beef soup with the slow cooker function.

The liquid level restrictions of the pot don't make this an ideal slow cooker for a family of 3 or more. If it's just you and one other person, this might make just the right combination appliance of rice cooker and slow cooker. Just don't slow cook a dish that you want to serve with fresh rice. :)