The century-old brand Zojirushi initially gained a foothold in the market with kettles and thermos flasks, and it was not until 1970 that the first rice cooker was launched, although it started late, but with its own technological advantages and flexible market strategy, it successfully surpassed strong competitors such as Tiger and Panasonic, and won more than 20% of the market share in Japan, ranking first for many years. In 2014, the Hong Kong Consumer Council evaluated a number of rice cookers, and Zojirushi's IH rice cooker received a four-and-a-half-star (out of five) recommendation, and its overall performance was among the best in the horizontal evaluation.
 
Zojirushi's product line is mainly differentiated around the heating technology of rice cookers, and in the Chinese market, the NS and NL series belong to the traditional chassis heating microcomputer rice cookers, and the price is about 2000 yuan. The NS series produced in domestic factories has limited technical content, and Zojirushi positions it as an entry-level product, mainly through volume to occupy the market, and there are not many overall highlights, in contrast, Zojirushi's NP series is more worthy of consumers' attention.
 
Compared with the chassis heating method of NS series traditional rice cookers, IH technology mainly converts electrical energy into heat energy through electromagnetic induction, reducing the energy loss in the process of heat conduction, and most importantly, the thermal inertia of IH electromagnetic heating is extremely small, which lays a solid foundation for the precise temperature control of microcomputer.
 
Zojirushi keeps the manufacturing technology of the NP series strictly confidential, never put into production in China, the domestic models on sale are mainly imported from Japan, in addition to the standard Zojirushi top temperature control technology, the NP series is also distinguished by whether there is pressure, so as to divide a more detailed product positioning, such as NP-HBH18C is a typical pressure-free IH model, relatively cost-effective, with Zojirushi's precise heat temperature control technology, the use of mass price rice grains can cook soft Q elastic rice, if you want to taste better taste rice, You should pay attention to the NP series models with pressure.
 
The NP-HSH10C is a representative product with pressure function under the NP series, providing four-stage pressure control up to 1.2 standard atmospheres. After increasing the pressure function, IH rice cooker not only accelerates the "pressing" of water molecules into the starch chain and promotes the absorption of water by rice grains, but also reduces pressure and increases the temperature in the later stage of rice cooking, so as to achieve "low temperature boiling" in the pot, and a large amount of water vapor volatilizes rapidly, so as to fully stir the rice grains and improve the taste of rice. Of course, the timing of pressure release is the core technology of the manufacturer, and it can only be simulated and summarized through repeated experiments, which is also the advantage of Zojirushi.
 
For users who pursue the ultimate and "not bad for money", the NP-STH10C "Southern Ironware - Extreme Hagama" of the NP series can be described as a work of Zojirushi's feelings. Most rice cookers on the market use stainless steel or copper and aluminum as the main material of the inner tank, which is sprayed with fluorine-containing paint after frosting to enhance the anti-sticking of the inner tank, while Zojirushi's industry-renowned "Extreme Hagama" inner tank adopts Japan's "Southern Ironware" with excellent heat storage and magnetic conductivity, with a wide opening and moderate depth, mainly drawing on the structure of firewood hot pot, which can strengthen the heat flow, and with the seven-stage pressure function, it can adapt to the cooking needs of different varieties of rice grains.
 
Removing the dazzling publicity of Japanese brands and returning to the essence of rice cookers, Zojirushi can be favored by major rice consuming countries, in addition to excellent cooking results, intimate detail design is also indispensable, many of Zojirushi's models are very versatile, can adapt to the cooking needs of different rice varieties throughout China, and the top cover also adopts a double-layer airflow design, which can store condensed water vapor and prevent water droplets from dripping into the rice and affecting the taste.
 
In terms of price, the NP series of pressure-free function models are generally priced at about 3000 yuan, while the mainstream price of the pressure IH rice cooker is 5000-6000 yuan, which is obviously prepared for users with consumption upgrade needs, as for the flagship product in the NP series, the price of "Southern Ironware" in China is as high as 40000 yuan, which is basically out of the mainstream consumption level. It is worth mentioning that in order to maintain the high-end image and brand premium, many Japanese rice cooker companies have high prices in China, especially high-end models of rice cookers, and the price of the national bank is often several times the price in Japan.