Zojirushi is a Japanese Brand. Cuckoo is a Korean Brand. Tiger is a Japanese brand. We have a Zojirushi, but when we bought it we specifically got the ZCC18 model (10 cup model made in Japan) versus the WCC18 model (made in China...and the one you used to be able to find at Costco). If I'm buying a nice rice cooker, I prefer it made in Japan. Also, we didn't pay extra for induction cooking because those were running around $500. We spent $200 on the ZCC18 which uses the bottom heating coil...it's been running for 10 years cooking rice every day.

When looking for rice, a tip is you'll sometimes see a "new crop" tag on the bag. It means it's been recently harvested, so it tastes better.

Oh and as Uncle Roger says, measure rice using finger, not the lines (I'm kidding, I do use the lines some times).