The most significant Japanese invention isn’t some portable electronic device or hybrid compact car or astronomical telescope, it’s instant ramen. A humble food solely responsible for keeping alive millions of starving, broke college students, instant ramen is easy (just add hot water!), fast (cooks in 3 minutes!), and, for under a dollar, satisfying enough to make you think you’re eating “real” food.

In Japan, there are so many varieties of instant ramen that an entire aisle in the supermarket is devoted to them. There are some that come in a plastic bowl with a soup base packet, a packet of chili-flavored oil, a packet of spices, a packet of freeze-dried green onion, and a freeze-dried sponge on top that magically reconstitutes to a fluffy, tasty tempura patty.

Alas, man cannot live (long) on instant ramen alone, so when you’ve graduated to using the microwave, try the Cook-Zen cooking pot by Skater Co., Ltd. A cooking pot designed especially for microwave ovens, it was developed with Japan’s leading cooking advisor. The Cook-Zen pot enables you to cook, simmer, steam or boil food using your microwave, so it’s perfect for college students. It’s easy to use, creates healthy, tasty dishes, and is even popular in restaurant kitchens and amongst professional chefs…as well as professional instant ramen cooks.

Japan has some of the most exquisite porcelain in the world, the most sensitive and tiny electronics, and the most delicate glassware…and it’s also a nation with so many earthquakes, it’s like living with the proverbial bull in a china shop. Just to give you some perspective…in Japan, you have to pretty much nail everything down. You buy expandable rods that attach between the ceiling and any large, heavy appliance (like your refrigerator or a cabinet) to keep it from falling on you in a tremor. You screw in brackets connecting bookshelves to the wall. Likewise, there are industrial-strength “sticky mats” that cement your TV to the TV stand, or your computer to the table, because in a big earthquake, these heavy things get shaken around your house like bingo balls.

That’s a nice thing about living in New York…you can invest in fragile things without worrying too much about Mother Nature. Alas, I have two boys under the age of 5 (and therefore more destructive than any earthquake), but one practical indulgence I allow myself is the porcelain from Noritake Co., Inc. Known for their artistry and craftsmanship, Noritake incorporates classic design with innovations in technical ceramic research and manufacturing. Their new line, Noritake Everyday Elegance, features designs that can be dressed up or down, its patterns and colors intermixed depending on the event or your mood. For example, their Twilight Meadow pattern incorporates subdued colors and silhouettes that are serene and elegant and appropriate for any occasion. As sturdy as they are beautiful, they are dishwasher and microwave safe, to ensure decades of enjoyment…a luxury that we take for granted in a city where the microwave isn’t nailed to the wall.

One day in tea ceremony class, my teacher brought his collection of antique tea bowls. Out of the dozens displayed, a beautiful black ceramic bowl caught my eye, and I casually picked it up to give it a good look. “Be careful with that one”, my teacher warned me, “it costs $80,000”. Needless to say, I put it down quickly (and gently).

The idea of spending $80,000 on a tea bowl is incomprehensible to me, but then again, I’m the type of person who’d rather buy a print of a Monet rather than the real thing (then again, I could never afford the real thing, but that’s beside the point). For some people, an $80,000 tea bowl is a work of art; to other people, if you pay more to insure your cups than your car, there’s something wrong…

Thankfully, the tableware from Ceramic of Victory Co., Ltd. manages to fuse artistic expression with functionality. The company believes that tableware plays an essential role in our daily lives, and their designs are straightforward and minimal. Their CoV series includes earthenware in simple, functional designs, in a wide spectrum of bright, cheerful colors. You’re guaranteed to pull them out time and time again, and if one of them breaks, relax…you won’t have an insurance inspector banging down your door, either.

Although baseball is “America’s sport”, players from Japan like Ichiro and Matsui are trickling into the lineups and making their country proud. Likewise, even though sumo wrestling is “Japan’s sport”, the current top athletes, Hakuhou and Asashouryu, are from Mongolia. There’s even a sumo wrestler from Bulgaria, Kotoushu, whose boyish smile (and cute bottom) won the hearts of many women in Japan. One advantage these players have over Japanese wrestlers is size. In sumo, there’s a height minimum of 5’8” (which some Japanese wrestlers overcame with scalp implants, to “pad” the tops of their heads an inch or so higher), and no weight restrictions…generally, the bigger, the better. A few years ago there were two wrestlers from Hawaii, the enormous Konishiki, and Akebono, who became the #1 athlete at the time…and let me tell you, when it comes to size, it’s hard to beat the Hawaiians. To fatten up, the typical sumo wrestler diet is chanko-nabe, a simmered stew, eaten with unbelievable amounts of rice. Chanko-nabe isn’t intrinsically fattening, and neither is rice. However, if you eat about a gallon of it, along with about 10 cups of rice, you’re bound to get a little tubby. Nowadays, if you take a stroll through Tokyo’s Ryogoku district, the sumo epicenter of Japan, you’ll find many chanko-nabe restaurants started by former sumo wrestlers. It’s obviously not diet food, but at least you can tell your friends you literally ate like a sumo wrestler while in Japan.

Back at home, if you crave some chanko-nabe (a reasonable serving, please) along with a steaming bowl of rice, try the Zojirushi RIZO rice cooker. Japan’s leading manufacturer of rice cookers, it makes preparing a delicious fluffy bowl of rice as simple as pushing a button. The RIZO brand, crafted by internationally renowned minimalist designer Toshiyuki Kita, is a sleek, modern shape which features three settings: steam, sushi rice and risotto. It couldn’t be simpler…add the rice, water, push a button, and a microcomputer chip regulates the cooking temperature and time to ensure a perfect bowl of rice. In addition to being high-tech, the RIZO rice cooker is easy to clean and comes with a nonstick rice spatula, spatula stand, measuring cup and steaming plate for vegetables. It makes rice preparation so easy and delicious, you can enjoy healthy Japanese food every day at home. Your taste buds and waistline will thank you…but unless you’re considering a future in sumo wrestling, try to keep it under 30 bowls per day.

In America, the question every girl longs to hear is, “Will you marry me?” In Japan, however, it’s “Can you make me miso soup?” or the equally romantic, “Can you do my laundry?” In lieu of a clichéd engagement ring, these heartwarming words are the unequivocal signs that a Japanese guy wants to live the rest of his life with you (or hire you as his maid). When my husband popped the question, I made him miso soup with fish that had been in his refrigerator so long, it was about to sprout feet and walk out of there, Darwinian-style. Strike one. I’m pretty good at doing laundry, however, so that was my saving grace…he might not be able to eat anything I cook without fear of food poisoning, but at least his clothes are nice and clean.

Once you get married, Japanese women traditionally become chained to the kitchen. You’re expected to wake up before your husband, make breakfast, make lunch, and make dinner, then wait for hubby to come home so you can pour him a beer, serve him his food, then worship his feet as he watches the news. A typical Japanese breakfast includes grilled salmon, miso soup, steamed rice, and assorted pickles. Lunch and dinner usually includes a main dish like Japanese-style fried chicken, and two side dishes like stewed vegetables and a seaweed salad. For dessert, it’s sliced seasonal fruit, artfully presented. All this cooking was incomprehensible to me as an American…growing up, it was Hamburger Helper, forget about the side dishes, and Jell-O for dessert, so I had a lot to learn.

My mother-in-law typically spends 2 hours preparing dinner, and she pulls out all the stops. I feared I would be totally inept at Japanese cooking, that is, until I met my husband’s sister, who can’t peel an apple. Then I realized that, while being able to cook like an Iron Chef may be the ideal, in our busy modern lives, who has the time or the energy? I still can’t bust out the Hamburger Helper without my husband signing over divorce papers, but at least I can whip up something vaguely resembling Japanese food, serve it with love, and hope to hell the foot-worship makes up for the questionable cuisine.

Visit the Felissimo Design House this week for a display of kitchen products from Japan that will turn even the worst cook in your house into a Japanese sous chef.