Rice prices in Japan more than doubled in May, spiking 101.7% year over year and marking their largest increase in over half a century. The huge spike follows a 98.4% increase in April, and a rise of ...

Japan’s farm minister Taku Eto stepped down on Wednesday, domestic media reported, following public outrage over his comments on getting free rice. Eto said Sunday that he has never had to buy rice as ...

It’s eaten with almost every meal, used to make sushi, made into sweets, fermented into alcohol and offered to the spirits at religious ceremonies. Rice is everywhere in the diet of Japan – there are ...

TOKYO — Rice is essential to Japanese culture, tradition and politics. People take pride in the oval-shaped sticky Japonica grain, which is still a staple even though total consumption has fallen over ...

Japan's former farm minister said he has never had to buy rice as he received it from his supporters. The comment struck a nerve with locals amid rocketing prices of the beloved staple. Rice in Japan ...

The price of rice in Japan has doubled in the last year. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with University of Pittsburgh scholar Kay Shimizu about what's behind the shortage in the homeland of sushi. Remember ...

Japan to implement new agricultural policy for rice from 2027 Rice shortage leads to historic price spike and exposes limitations of old policy Trump pressures Japan on closed rice market as tariff ...

TOKYO >> When a severe rice shortage sent prices skyrocketing in Japan last year, Tokyo restaurant owner Arata Hirano did what had once seemed unthinkable: he switched to an American variety. The ...

In Japan, the ruling government is weighing whether or not to put rice on the table. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have forced countries around the world—most recently announced, China—to take a ...

KISARAZU, Japan (Reuters) -At a farmer's market not far from Tokyo, more than 100 shoppers queued for a chance to get a kilo or so of Japanese rice for 500 yen ($3.32) by carefully heaping as much of ...

A rice field in Mito, Japan, where farmers are being encouraged to grow more of the staple crop to make up for shortages on store shelves, on Wednesday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Elaine Kurtenbach) ...