Japanese consumers who used to treat foreign-grown rice with scepticism have been forced to develop a taste for it amid domestic shortage
Japan has imported rice from South Korea for the first time in a quarter of a century in an attempt to address soaring prices and growing consumer anger.
South Korean rice arrived in Japan last month for the first time since 1999, according to media reports, as the price of domestically produced grain continued to rise, despite government attempts to relieve the pressure on shoppers.
The price of Japan-grown rice has more than doubled since this time last year, fuelling demand for cheaper foreign grain, despite the heavy tariffs imposed on imports.
I heard about this from my wife (who is Japanese), and it’s mostly a bad harvest along with few secondary reasons. If you’re like me and thought it’s the USs fault, it probably isn’t helping with trade but Japan can still very much import rice from the US. Korea just makes more sense right now, probably.
In fact, ironically, tarrifs might actually help-- less US demand for Japanese rice means very slight increase in domestic supply. But it’s likely not a lot.
I had seen mentioned the japanese government did something in the last few years that disincentivized rice growing.