In the late 1800s in Japan, there was a disease that seemed to target not just inner-city dwellers in Edo, what we know as modern-day Tokyo, but it affected mainly the upper classes. Not even the emperor and his family were immune to this slow, agonizing disease that saw people waste away in front of their loved ones. It would be a few years until the true culprit was discovered and it would throw Japanese culture into a frenzy when the cause was found to be none other than their beloved, white rice.
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