Hi Naomi! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and for sharing your story about Tarachiri and the okayu your mother made.
The words can be used interchangeably depending on family and region, but Nami shared the basic differences in this post:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/zosui-japanese-rice-soup/
We hope this helps and that you enjoy reading it!

Hi Tiki! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and for your kind feedback! We’re so happy to hear that you loved Nami’s nabe suggestions.
The little candle-type burner is called a Hichirin or Shichirin. The candle type usually only lasts about 15 minutes. We’ve seen some on Amazon, but we suggest something like this, which works better for nabe: https://amzn.to/4t4Dc44
We hope this information helps and that you enjoy your nabe!🤗

Anyway, I grew up eating a nabemono dish my mother always called tarachiri and then we would make okayu with the leftover broth and rice… My mother loved it, and so do I. But it looks like we were actually making zosui? And I’ve never heard of ojiya before… Unfortunately my mother passed away several months ago so I can no longer ask her… but perhaps you can answer my question: How interchangeable are the words zosui and okayu? I understand that technically okayu is made with uncooked rice and zosui is made with cooked rice, but how ‘strict’ is that? I don’t think I ever heard my mother call it zosui and she was also born and raised in Japan, Ibaraki-ken. Is zosui a term used more recently? (My mother was 89 when she passed last year).
Thank you.

Hello Charles! Thank you so much for your kind words for Nami. She’s delighted to hear you enjoyed her post.
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays!

Hi Morgane! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes, the tsukune are precooked in the hotpot first. Please check the instructions in the recipe card. Hope you enjoy the hot pot!