What is the correct word order?

Question

I know that when describing things, the country of origin tends to come closest to the object being described. For example, we say "a big Japanese house", not "a Japanese big house."
What about when two words tend to be grouped together, like "instant rice?" Do we say "Japanese instant rice" or "instant Japanese rice?"

Answer 1

If the rice is a breed known as "Japanese", then an instant cooking version would be "instant Japanese rice" - "Japanese rice" being the object, "instant the adjective desribing the cooking method.
If it is cooked Japanese style, and is an instant version of rice cooked that fashion, it is "Japanese instant rice". Here, "instant rice" is the object, "Japanese" the adjective.

Separate the items. Look at the object of the sentence - "rice" or "house". What is the MAIN descriptive feature of the other two (or even three) words relating to the object?
There are millions of big houses in the world - you are emphasinig this big house is in Japan, so Japanese is part of the object.
And, for the person who commented on a prison in Japan being a "Japanese big house" - 'big house' is the object, using the two words together in slang = the one word, 'prison'. There is only the one adjective - "Japanese", and one object - "big house".

"Mexican hot peppers" are hot peppers from Mexico, as distinct from the ones from Peru. "Hot Mexican peppers" would be a hot form of "Mexican peppers", as distinct from milder forms. (And 'peppers, as part of a name, would normally have a "P".)

[You could, validly, describe "Mexican hot Mexican Peppers", to distinguish them from "hot Mexican Peppers" grown in the USA or Peru!]

Answer 2

You would say "Japanese instant rice" because you are not describing the rice itself (that could have been planted anywhere), but the instant rice that is Japanese style or made in Japan or whatever.

Hope that helped!

Answer 3

The rice is instant so it has to be 'Japanese instant rice'

Answer 4

You would say "a Japanese big house" if you meant a penitentiary in Japan.

Answer 5

the first one

Answer 6

I believe that this depends on the context in which the words are used.