Article content“Culturally, and historically, the Japanese people are all about rice,” Shinichi Katayama, the fourth-generation owner of 120-year-old Tokyo rice wholesaler Sumidaya, told AFP.Article content“I personally welcome having an additional option for Japanese consumers. But I also feel the move (letting in lots of foreign rice) is too early from the standpoint of food security,” he said.Article content“If we become reliant on rice imports, we may face shortages again when something happens.”Article contentWhile Japan already imports rice from the United States, many consumers see foreign, long-grain varieties as being of dubious quality and lacking the requisite stickiness of the homegrown short-grain rice.Article contentBad memories linger from when Japan suffered a cold summer in 1993 and had to import large volumes of the grain from Thailand.Article contentAmerican rice “tastes awful. It lacks stickiness”, said Sueo Matsumoto, 69, who helps families where children have hearing difficulties.Article contentArticle content“If they (the Americans) want to export to Japan, they must work at it. They must think about consumer preference,” he told AFP in Tokyo.Article content– No sacrifice –Article contentAs a result, Ishiba’s government has been at pains to say it won’t bend on the issue — although this may change after the election.Article content“We have no intention of sacrificing agriculture in future negotiations,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said recently.Article content“Ishiba is walking a narrow plank, wary of provoking powerful domestic lobbies like rice farmers, while juggling an approval rating that would make aggressive trade moves politically perilous,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.Article contentThe government has already been under fire for the recent skyrocketing of rice prices, which have roughly doubled in 12 months.Article contentFactors include a very hot summer in 2023, panic-buying after a warning of an imminent “megaquake” in 2024, alleged hoarding by some traders, and a surge in rice-hungry tourists.Article contentTo help ease the pain, Tokyo is tapping emergency stockpiles, and imports have risen sharply — led by rice from California — but these are still tiny compared with domestic production.Article content“All these problems with rice prices show the LDP’s agriculture policy has failed,” retiree Yasunari Wakasa, 77, told AFP.Article content© 2025 AFPArticle content
Japan’s sticky problem with Trump, tariffs and rice
