Three Japanese Kitchen Gadgets Tested: TKG Machine, Instant Ramen Cooker and Compact Rice Polisher

Introduction

Japanese kitchen gadgets have a reputation for solving very specific problems, sometimes problems you did not know you had. We put three of them through hands-on testing: an egg-cracking and whisking machine built for one iconic breakfast dish, a single-serve instant ramen cooker, and a compact machine that polishes brown rice into white rice at home. Each one earned very different reactions, and the scores ended up surprisingly close in two cases and far apart in another.

How We Evaluated Them

Each gadget was judged on how well it did its intended job, how convenient it really is compared with doing things the traditional way, and whether the price matches the value. Both a chef’s eye for technique and a home cook’s practicality went into the ratings, which were scored individually out of five stars and then combined.

1. Takara Tomy Arts Ultimate TKG Machine

Tamago kake gohan, or TKG, is a raw egg on steamed rice and a staple of the Japanese breakfast table. It is simple, but making it well can be tricky for beginners, which is where the Takara Tomy Arts Ultimate TKG Machine comes in. It cracks the egg, separates the yolk from the white, and whisks the white into an unusually creamy, glossy foam, all in one battery-operated device.

Using it takes a little practice. The egg sits in a mould at the top, the lid locks with a tab, and one short, firm hit on the top cracks the shell. Our first attempts took several tries, and once the egg dropped into the chamber, the yolk initially refused to travel down to the whisking section until the steps were done in the right order. Once we figured it out, the machine whisked the egg white for five minutes into a foam firm enough to hold its shape.

The finished dish is genuinely good. Poured over steamed rice with the yolk on top and a generous dusting of Furikake seasoning, the result tastes fully of rich egg yolk with a creamy texture layered over the rice, quite different from egg fried rice where the egg flavour gets lost.

The main criticisms: it is a single-use device that does a job you can do another way, and while it is marketed at beginners, it does the task for you rather than teaching you how to do it. On the plus side, once you learn the routine, it is a press-a-button-and-walk-away convenience. It cost around 31 pounds, landing close to testers’ guesses of 25 and 32 pounds. Combined score: seven out of 10.

2. Thanko Instant Ramen For 1 Cooker

The Thanko Instant Ramen For 1 Cooker is a compact single-serve countertop pot sized to fit a block of instant ramen perfectly, with a slide control from off to high and a non-stick interior marked with minimum and maximum fill lines. Pour in water up to the max line, turn the knob to max, wait for the boil, then drop in your noodles and seasoning.

In a side-by-side test against a standard kettle with double the water, the cooker reached a boil only about a minute and a half behind, despite doing less than half the volume. From boiling water to finished broth, it worked quicker than expected. The keep-warm function lets you treat it like a mini hot pot while you eat, though our testers had mixed feelings about that: instant ramen noodles overcook quickly, so keeping them hotter for longer is not always what you want.

The real selling point is where you use it. Marketing imagery shows people eating at desks in offices and home offices, and the testers agreed that if ramen is your lunch and you have no kitchen, a desk, a plug socket, and this pot is a genuinely efficient setup. The rubber handles make it safe to carry and eat from directly.

At 66 pounds, the price drew the strongest reaction of the day. One tester called it genius and awarded five stars, arguing there is no more efficient way to make ramen without a kitchen. The other gave it two stars, saying it does the job but the job may not need doing, and definitely not at that price when a desktop hob and saucepan could cost less. Combined score: seven out of 10.

3. Recolte Compact Rice Polisher

Polishing rice is the process of removing the bran layer and husk from brown rice to reveal the white grain underneath, the same principle that determines sake grades like Ginjo and Daiginjo. The Recolte Compact Rice Polisher brings that process into the home kitchen: stock brown rice, polish only what you need just before eating, and select the mode by turning a timer knob. A full load handles around 400 millilitres of rice, roughly four portions.

The results were impressive even to a professional. After three minutes of a fairly loud polishing cycle, brown rice emerged as genuinely white rice, with the separated bran collected in an inner strainer. Longer runs change the outcome noticeably: at five, seven, and nine minutes, the grains get progressively whiter, smaller, and rounder, with the longest polish leaving almost perfectly circular grains that cook very evenly with a distinct texture.

There is a practical argument for the approach too. White rice flavour is said to deteriorate over one to two months, while brown rice holds its flavour for around six months, so storing brown rice and polishing on demand is more economical. The leftover rice bran is a useful ingredient in baking as well. In a direct taste comparison, the brown rice was nutty, chewy, and sticky, while the polished rice was softer, glossier, and slightly more starchy and glutinous.

The price came in at 23,132 yen, about 109 pounds, which surprised the testers who guessed between 75 and 80 pounds. Both rated it highly anyway, at four and a half and four stars, with price as the only real criticism. It won the day with eight and a half stars out of 10, and the key insight is simple: if rice is a daily staple for you, being able to polish exactly the amount you need from a single bag of brown rice opens up real variety.

Should You Buy Any of These Gadgets?

It depends entirely on your habits. The TKG Machine makes sense if you love tamago kake gohan and want push-button convenience, though it will not teach you the traditional technique. The Thanko ramen cooker is a niche but excellent solution for anyone eating instant ramen where no kitchen exists, if you can stomach the price. The Recolte rice polisher is the standout for rice-heavy households, offering freshness and variety that store-bought white rice cannot match, provided the investment fits your budget.

Conclusion

Two of the three gadgets earned identical seven out of 10 combined scores, but the Recolte Compact Rice Polisher ran away with the win at eight and a half stars. It is the rare gadget that introduces a genuinely new capability to the home kitchen rather than automating something you can already do. Match any of these to a real need, and each one can earn its place on the counter.