Since Japanese already had several words for rice why was "ライス" (raisu) borrowed from English?


Last night I had dinner in a ramen restaurant in northern Japan and was
surprised to read the katakana "ライス" (raisu) on the menu. This is obviously
the English word "rice" borrowed. But what kind of rice or method of
preparation might it refer to given that Japanese already has "kome", "gohan",
and "meshi"?




ご飯 (ごはん), 飯 (めし) and ライス all refer to the same thing: steamed rice. ご飯 and 飯
can mean meal, too.

As you said, it is not uncommon to see ライス in a menu at a restaurant, even
when it is not part of a compound word such as カレーライス. I do not know why they
do not say ご飯, and I can only make a guess at possible reasons:

  * As Jeshii said, they may want to make it sound like something fancy by using a loanword instead of the more common word ご飯. (But I am not sure if calling it ライス really sounds fancy compared to calling it ご飯.)
  * As Uronym said, they may serve steamed rice on a plate, in which case it is understandable to call it differently from the usual steamed rice in Japanese cuisine, which is served in a bowl. (But the question is about a ramen restaurant, and I would be surprised if a ramen restaurant in Japan serves steamed rice on a plate. The use of the word ライス is not uncommon in ramen restaurants.)
  * Depending on context, ご飯 refers to meal, and they may want to avoid possible confusion caused by this usage. (But some restaurants _do_ write ご飯 to mean steamed rice and there is no possibility of confusion. Note that “set meal” at a restaurant has a separate word 定食 (ていしょく).)

As you can see, I am not satisfied with any of these reasons. If there is a
better explanation, I am happy to learn it.




ご飯 (ごはん), 飯 (めし) and ライス all refer to the same thing: steamed rice. ご飯 and 飯
can mean meal, too.

As you said, it is not uncommon to see ライス in a menu at a restaurant, even
when it is not part of a compound word such as カレーライス. I do not know why they
do not say ご飯, and I can only make a guess at possible reasons:

  * As Jeshii said, they may want to make it sound like something fancy by using a loanword instead of the more common word ご飯. (But I am not sure if calling it ライス really sounds fancy compared to calling it ご飯.)
  * As Uronym said, they may serve steamed rice on a plate, in which case it is understandable to call it differently from the usual steamed rice in Japanese cuisine, which is served in a bowl. (But the question is about a ramen restaurant, and I would be surprised if a ramen restaurant in Japan serves steamed rice on a plate. The use of the word ライス is not uncommon in ramen restaurants.)
  * Depending on context, ご飯 refers to meal, and they may want to avoid possible confusion caused by this usage. (But some restaurants _do_ write ご飯 to mean steamed rice and there is no possibility of confusion. Note that “set meal” at a restaurant has a separate word 定食 (ていしょく).)

As you can see, I am not satisfied with any of these reasons. If there is a
better explanation, I am happy to learn it.

