If I can find most of the ingredients here in a very small midwest town, you aren't trying hard enough!!!! Find an Asian grocery, but even our small town grocery has much of what you need. The hardest thing to find over the years has been the pickled ginger, but it isn't very hard to make yourself (buy fresh ginger, peel, then, using a potato peeler, peel the ginger into a small bowl or jar. Cover with rice vinegar. Won't be exactly the same, but it will do. Eventually the Dubuque Asian grocer (a Vietnamese couple) started carrying it so I didn't have to do it myself. I use CalRose rice, which is what everyone in Hawaii used for everything. It made a great sushi. Alternately, if you cannot find CalRose or "sushi" rice, if you live in a hispanic community, La Preferada sells a "pearl" rice that works well. Both also work for risotto, believe it or not.