Tag - rice

 
Menu
Search
 
September 13, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

RICE

Residents stand on an embankment as they wait to be rescued from a flooded area, following monsoon rains and rising water levels of the Chenab River, in Jalalpur Pirwala, Punjab province, Pakistan, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 9, 2025
Flood-hit India and Pakistan face rising prices for rice amid crop losses
India and Pakistan exclusively grow aromatic basmati rice, which sells for nearly twice the price of regular varieties and is imported by Britain, the Middle East, and the U.S.
Tourists order sushi using an interactive touchscreen at a Sushiro restaurant in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2025
Growth overseas aids sushi chain Sushiro amid rice inflation at home
Osaka-based chain has been able to avoid across-the-board price hikes at its Japanese restaurants to offset volatile rice costs that have nearly doubled from a year ago.
Ryosei Akazawa
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 30, 2025
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Officials are unhappy that a U.S. presidential order would include plans for Japan to increase purchases of American rice and a reduction of tariffs on agricultural products.
Shinjiro Koizumi, flanked by Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, greets rice farmers during a discussion in the city of Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2025
Farm minister promises 'necessary measures' to counter extreme weather events
Shinjiro Koizumi underlines the government's plan for creating agricultural infrastructure that is more resistant to disasters and climate change.
For Suzunobu, a small rice specialty shop in Tokyo's Meguro Ward, distribution delays have resulted in it struggling to sell stockpiled rice secured from the government, owner Toyozo Nishijima said.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 26, 2025
Rice woes weigh down Koizumi's first three months as farm minister
Early forecasts have also indicated that the relatively poor rice harvest this year will drive the price of the staple back up.
The agriculture ministry believes it is difficult to sell all of the stockpiled rice by the original deadline set at the end of this month due to slow deliveries to retailers.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Government extends deadline for stockpiled rice sales
While a new deadline will not be set, the ministry will ask businesses concerned to make sure the rice sells out within a month of delivery.
High temperatures are forecast to last for another month in Japan, according to the weather agency.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Searing heat in Japan to persist for a month, boosting power use
A high-pressure system that keeps warm air near the surface has caused prolonged hot weather in Japan since June, the national weather forecaster said.
Rice retailed for an average ¥3,737 per 5-kilogram bag at about 1,000 supermarkets nationwide from Aug. 4 to 10, up ¥195 from the previous week and around 1.4 times the value a year earlier, according to the agriculture ministry.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2025
Rice prices climbed in early August as stockpile release slowed, data shows
Retail prices averaged ¥3,737 per 5-kilogram bag from Aug. 4 to 10, up ¥195 from the previous week and around 1.4 times the price a year earlier.
A farmer removes weeds from a soybean farm in Nashik, India, on July 28.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 12, 2025
India's ethanol drive imperils its push for edible oil self-sufficiency
New Delhi is working to make more ethanol to meet its target of blending 20% of it with gasoline, but the process produces a protein-rich byproduct flooding the animal feed market.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a rice field near Seoul on Sunday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2025
Farm minister Koizumi visits rice field in South Korea
South Korean rice exports to Japan have sharply increased, reaching a record 416 tons in January to June this year.
Recent heat waves and little rain may impact the rice harvest in Japan that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025
Japan’s rice crop at risk as farms face record-breaking heat
Weather extremes may impact the harvest that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years.
Top officials from the Farm Ministry bow deeply to apologize for mistakenly saying that Japan has enough rice based on faulty data at a meeting on Aug. 8 at LDP headquarters.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 8, 2025
Farm ministry apologizes over erroneous rice supply and demand forecasts
The errors came to light when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba admitted that the government’s miscalculations had led to prices surging in the past year.
A rice farm in Niigata Prefecture. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that the government will reconsider its long-standing policy of limiting rice production — a measure that has been in place since around 1969 in response to chronic oversupply.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2025
Ishiba to reverse rice curb policy as government admits to miscalculating demand
“We had assumed that production volume was adequate, despite the lack of sufficient analysis,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said.
Local varieties of rice are sold in a market in Marikina City, Manila, on Oct. 6, 2023.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2025
Top rice importer Philippines may halt purchases to help farmers
The plan comes at a time when improving global supply prospects for the grain have pushed benchmark Asian prices to an eight-year low.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) talks with rice farmers in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, on July 11.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 4, 2025
Japan seeks to ditch rice output curbs after price surges
Currently, the government provides subsidies to farmers to encourage them to restrict rice production and switch to other crops to prevent an oversupply.
Bags of newly harvested Koshihikari brand rice are sold at a supermarket in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2025
Japan's first rice crop of 2025 goes on sale at high prices
Rice prices may remain high even after autumn, leading consumers to struggle with their food spending.
The agriculture ministry believes the increase in rice distributed through new channels with higher transaction prices is one of the factors behind the rice price surge since last summer.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2025
Varied sales channels may have triggered rice price surge
The amount of 2024 rice shipped from producers to major buyers dealing with farmers fell by 340,000 metric tons from the previous year.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, waves to voters from atop an election campaign van during a rally Friday in Yokohama for Sunday's Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025
Ishiba's future in balance as polls hint at rout in Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba likes the nitty gritty of policy, cigarettes and making models, but his dream job as Japanese leader could go up in smoke this weekend.
Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
As rice shortage hits donations, food banks urge politicians to tackle poverty
Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a rice farm in Ibaraki Prefecture on July 9. Inflation is eating into household budgets, and higher prices are causing much concern among the Japanese public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025
In Japanese politics, rice is the 'third rail'
If inexperienced politicians inadvertently damage Japan’s food security, voters will send them packing.
Japan's cutting-edge railgun successfully strikes target vessel
The Defense Ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) conducted a ship-board railgun shooting test from June to early July this year with the support of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Thousands without power in Tokyo as heavy rain batters Kanto region
Heavy rain hit Tokyo and surrounding areas Thursday afternoon, causing thousands to lose power, prompting flood warnings, grounding flights and causing transportation issues.
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
JAL reprimand over drunken pilots adds to airline’s woes
Japan Airlines President Mitsuko Tottori (right) bows in apology Wednesday in Tokyo over the company's pilots causing flight delays due to drinking alcohol.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.
Shizuoka farmers fight to preserve sustainable tea method that’s steeped in tradition
As of August 2024, the number of confirmed chagusaba farmers had fallen to 302, just over half the 582 reported in 2015, according to the Shizuoka Chagusaba Farming Method Promotion Council.
Search is on for loopholes in Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick argues that U.S. President Donald Trump has sole authority to invest Japan's promised $550 billion.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER