Kubota has always strongly believed that rice farmers have been instrumental in the growth of the company, and long desired to repay them in some way. One idea the company came up with was to export rice to Southeast Asia, where rice was a central part of the food culture, much like in Japan. Kubota took this idea to farmers in Niigata, one of Japan’s foremost rice-producing regions, and in 2011, a joint project to export Japanese rice began. The targets were Hong Kong and Singapore, two regions in the midst of rapid economic growth. However, unlike the sticky, medium-grain rice of Japan, the rice consumed in Hong Kong and Singapore was long-grain, and there were concerns as to whether Japanese rice would take root. Further, people in Hong Kong and Singapore weren’t accustomed to boiling their rice. Kubota’s first endeavor was to see whether it could open up a line of communication with local Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore. The company already had a long history of independently opening up new sales channels in Europe and the US, and this together with the worldwide Japanese food boom ensured that Japanese rice slowly took root. Kubota made further efforts, too, exporting rice in its unpolished state and having it polished locally to ensure freshness. The company also introduced a professional-use rice cooker—the Rice Robot—to suggest boiling as a method in addition to the already established steaming and simmering. As a result, Kubota’s rice gradually earned a reputation for its delicious taste. In 2018 export volume exceeded 4,000 t, and this number continues to steadily increase today. Kubota boasted the highest share of the Japanese rice export market, and at the same time opened up new possibilities for Japanese agriculture.