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Japan Rice Prices Double, Raising Pressure on PM
Channel News Asia ^ | 18 Jul 2025

Posted on 07/17/2025 7:09:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Rice prices in Japan soared 99.2 per cent in June year-on-year, official data showed Friday (Jul 18), piling further pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of elections this weekend.

The price of the grain already rocketed 101 per cent year-on-year in May, having jumped 98.4 per cent in April and more than 92.5 per cent in March.

Overall, Japan's core inflation rate slowed to 3.3 per cent in June from 3.7 per cent in May, the data from the internal affairs ministry showed.

(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Japan; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: asia; food; inflation; japan; rice

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1 posted on 07/17/2025 7:09:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
They have been importing a lot of Korean rice. It is supposed to be just as good as Japanese rice.

2 posted on 07/17/2025 7:17:44 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Very dangerous ground when a nation begins importing food staples.

Gee...why are there so many Chinesium solar “farms” covering prime American cropland?


3 posted on 07/17/2025 7:20:08 PM PDT by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: lightman

“Gee...why are there so many Chinesium solar “farms” covering prime American cropland?”

Not sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Japan has a good chunk of their farmland now producing ‘sustainable’ power.


4 posted on 07/17/2025 7:24:22 PM PDT by BobL
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To: nickcarraway

What is it about American rice that the Japanese don’t like?


5 posted on 07/17/2025 7:25:55 PM PDT by Texas_Jarhead
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To: nickcarraway

They only allow a limited amount of imported rice without tariff. Beyond that the rate is around 700%. We grow plenty here in CA we could export if they’d wise the hell up


6 posted on 07/17/2025 7:28:47 PM PDT by j.havenfarm (24 years on Free Republic, 12/10/24! More than 10,500 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Rice or wic4the - me bad.


7 posted on 07/17/2025 7:29:30 PM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

“They have been importing a lot of Korean rice. “

They import more from Italy than Korea.


8 posted on 07/17/2025 7:29:55 PM PDT by TexasGator (/i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: Texas_Jarhead

“What is it about American rice that the Japanese don’t like?”

The US makes up about 1/2 of their rice imports.


9 posted on 07/17/2025 7:31:18 PM PDT by TexasGator (/i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: Texas_Jarhead

I bought 20 lbs of Basmati 10 years ago...still have 5 lbs left. I make a big pot and freeze flat pkgs..


10 posted on 07/17/2025 7:36:44 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: nickcarraway
I just ordered my 15lb bag of California haiga, a shortgrain Japanese rice with the germ but not the bran, better for nutrition, nuttier taste, and doesn't blood sugar spike as much as koshihikari white rice. The price went down 5% since the last time I ordered it a few months ago ($48, about twice as much as grocery store rice, but for this Nihonophile well worth the difference).

The problem is partly the lack of rice farmers in Japan, but I suspect it is more the government inability to subsidize farmers as they did for decades after the war--it was a money laundering scheme to fund the LDP, the main Japanese party, government gives the farmers money to grow rice, farming orgs give campaign contributions to the LDP. If that sounds suspiciously like some other government schemes in the recent news, just remember, there is nothing new under the sun.

11 posted on 07/17/2025 7:45:23 PM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Texas_Jarhead

American rice is fluffy, and doesn’t stick together well, making it difficult to eat with chopsticks.

They prefer a sticky rice where the grains cling together.


12 posted on 07/17/2025 8:12:36 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: Texas_Jarhead

That used to be the issue but since then US farmers are growing a wider variety of rice to suit all tastes.


13 posted on 07/17/2025 8:14:56 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: chajin

“The problem is partly the lack of rice farmers in Japan...”

Yes. When the wife and I were there last December, we took a long trip to the western part of Honshu, traveling on several smaller rail lines. We were surprised at the number of abandoned fields. Most of them were smaller and in inconvenient places, but they add up to a lot of acreage taken out of production.


14 posted on 07/17/2025 8:23:47 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable anima)
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To: nickcarraway

Wonder how much of the price increase is due to continuing arable land contamination issues after the 2011 tsunami and the resulting meltdowns at Fukushima...


15 posted on 07/17/2025 8:43:17 PM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: chajin

Lack of farmers...

And maybe problems with the land?


16 posted on 07/17/2025 8:44:19 PM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: j.havenfarm
We grow plenty here in CA we could export if they’d wise the hell up

They are an island nation. They shouldn't want to be one blockade away from starvation.
17 posted on 07/17/2025 8:45:26 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." (John 2:5))
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To: mewzilla

This is interesting. From earlier this month...

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/reversal-japan-now-wants-rice-farmers-produce-more-will-it-work-2025-07-04/


18 posted on 07/17/2025 8:51:20 PM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: AmericanInTokyo

It appears Japan levies a 700% tariff on US rice, after a quota is exceeded, according to post #6. Is this remotely correct?

Why is Japan having so little rice made at home?


19 posted on 07/17/2025 9:17:54 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: piasa

It’s also sweeter. There are gourmet varieties of hoshihikari from Niigata that win awards..


20 posted on 07/17/2025 9:38:36 PM PDT by RitchieAprile (available monkeys looking for the change..)
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