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June 06, 2025
 

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AGRICULTURE

The average price of rice sold at some 1,000 supermarkets across Japan in the week through May 25 stood at ¥4,260 ($29.80) per 5 kilograms, down ¥25 from the previous week.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2025
Retail prices for rice across Japan make first dip in three weeks
The average price in the week through May 25 stood at ¥4,260 ($29.80) per 5 kilograms, down by ¥25 from the previous week.
Workers add clean topsoil to a rice field, part of a government pilot project to add fresh earth to recycled and removed soil taken from areas affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2025
Recycling contaminated soil from Fukushima: Japan's dilemma
Massive amounts of the soil — around 14 million cubic meters of it — remain in storage near the damaged plant.
Rice from government stockpiles is sold at a store in Sendai on Saturday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2025
41% of Japanese rice farmers expect price drop in 2026
A share of 72.3% of farmers, however, expect prices for 2025 rice to be higher than for 2024 rice.
Iris Ohyama began sales of government-stockpiled rice at a home center location in Chiba Prefecture on Saturday morning.
JAPAN
May 31, 2025
Japanese customers brave the rain to line up for cheap stockpiled rice
Lines formed in the early hours of Saturday morning at an outlet in Chiba Prefecture as people clamored to purchase 5 kilogram bags of rice for ¥2,000.
A rice shop owner listens to an online briefing by the farm ministry on the no-bid contract method of purchase for small retailers looking to buy stockpiled rice from the government, on Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025
Farm ministry starts accepting applications for older rice from small buyers
Smaller retailers and rice shops can buy rice stockpiled from the 2021 harvest from the government via no-bid contracts.
Stockpiled rice arrives Thursday at a rice-milling factory operated by a subsidiary of household appliance company Iris Ohyama in the town of Watari, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2025
Some retailers hesitant to buy stockpiled rice on quality concerns
Smaller shops in Japan are worried that older batches might not taste as good, which could cause customers to take their business elsewhere.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during an Upper House agriculture committee meeting on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2025
Some LDP lawmakers wary of Koizumi's aggressive price policy
There are fears that the approach may cause farmers, a key support bloc, to distance themselves from the party.
A government white paper on agriculture attributed the recent rice price hikes partly to some producers boosting direct sales to consumers and sales to nonconventional buyers.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025
Government blames rice price surges on procurement route changes
Rice prices at retailers soared because wholesalers had to buy at relatively high prices to supplement shortfalls, a white paper concluded.
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s push to slash rice prices could either mark a populist gesture or ignite a political revolution that challenges the entrenched agricultural lobby and the foundations of postwar conservative power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2025
Can the 'rice man,' Koizumi, save the day?
Late last week, newly appointed farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced that he aimed to bring the rice price range down to around ¥2,000 per 5 kilograms.
Stockpiled rice arrives Thursday at a rice-milling factory operated by an Iris Ohyama subsidiary in the town of Watari, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025
Stockpiled rice shipped within three days and set to hit shelves next week
The rapid shipment is in sharp contrast with previous arrangements using auctions, under which it took months to sell and ship 310,000 metric tons of rice in phases.
Agrolend CEO Andre Glezer (second from right), JICA Brazil Office chief Akihiro Miyazaki (far left) and others on Wednesday in Sao Paulo
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2025
JICA signs deal to invest in Brazilian farming fintech firm
JICA hopes the investment will help ensure stable food procurement by Japan, which imports such crops as soybeans and corns from the South American agricultural giant.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks at a Lower House farm committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 28, 2025
With latest move, farm ministry sets sights on ¥1,800 for a 5-kg bag of rice
The agriculture ministry will sell older batches of stockpiled rice to smaller retailers and rice shops via no-bid contracts, and pause offerings to big buyers.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi said at a news conference Tuesday that the ministry is planning to sign contracts with retailers that have applied by Wednesday for the no-bid procedure and hand them the stockpile rice as early as Thursday.
JAPAN
May 27, 2025
At least 33 retailers applied for no-bid contracts for rice, farm ministry says
The ministry is planning to sign contracts with retailers that have applied by Wednesday and hand them the stockpiled rice as early as Thursday.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a supermarket to check the prices of rice on Friday in Koto.
JAPAN
May 26, 2025
Bags of rice at half price will hit stores by early June, Koizumi says
With necessary costs added on, a 5-kilogram bag of rice is set to cost ¥2,160 at retailers in June.
Denso is expanding its agricultural business and hopes to become a key supplier of industrialized greenhouses capable of producing food in any climate.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2025
Denso in talks to buy Temasek-backed seed supplier for $500 million
A purchase would align with Denso’s ambition to become a key supplier of industrialized greenhouses capable of producing food in any climate.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
May 23, 2025
Japan pledges immediate rice price cuts to stop shift to foreign brands
The government has been releasing some of its stockpiled rice since March but that has yet to translate to lower supermarket prices.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's newly appointed agriculture minister, arrives at the ministry building in Tokyo on Wednesday. He replaced Taku Eto, who quit after saying he’s never needed to buy rice, a comment that angered many people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2025
Rice price uproar intensifies ruling party's election fears
When the remarks triggered a predictable and understandable backlash, Eto explained that he was trying to make a joke.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto answers reporters questions at the at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2025
Why Ishiba pulled a 180 on the gaffe-stricken farm minister
Taku Eto is the first minister to fall since the Japanese leader formed his Cabinet last October
Former inmates work as trainees in the forestry industry in Nara Prefecture under the prefecture's fully funded rehabilitation program.
JAPAN / Society
May 20, 2025
Nara initiative offers second chances to former prison inmates
Since 2020, nine people have participated in a first-of-its-kind reintegration program, with job training, housing and life skills classes.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto responds to questions from reporters on Monday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2025
Ishiba won't sack farm minister over rice gaffe
The prime minister wants agriculture minister Taku Eto to focus on finding a solution for soaring rice prices.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures via YouTube
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.

Podcast

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

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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