Rice Candy When I was in the third grade (about eight years old) my teacher was Japanese. She taught us as much as you can teach an 8-year-old about Japanese culture: haiku, diet, etc. One day, she brought rice-paper candy. I remembered how cool it was that the wrapper would dissolve in your mouth. Now I'm over 50 years old, and I still find myself buying Japanese rice paper candy whenever I can find it. There is a store just north of my new residence that sells "Botan Rice Candy." Each box includes a "Free children's sticker inside." I love the stickers, because they tend to make very little sense to me. It's a bit of a mind puzzle. One of the variety is some Japanese Kanji writing (which I can't read, so I have no idea what it says). Others are usually animals doing odd things. This morning, I opened two boxes. They both have elephants. One is an elephant playing the flute. The other is an elephant playing a pair of maracas. Is there some kind of musical thing with elephants in Japanese culture?