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July 12, 2025
 

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AGRICULTURE

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.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto has come under fire for saying at the weekend that he receives so much rice from his supporters that he has enough to sell it.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Amid rice shortage, farm minister comes under fire for saying he gets plenty
Agriculture minister Taku Eto reportedly said at a fundraiser that he gets so much rice from supporters, he has enough to sell it.
Wholesalers added ¥7,593 on average to their selling prices for stockpiled rice, far more than the ¥2,206 to ¥4,689 added for the 2022 rice.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2025
Wholesalers may be behind elevated retail rice prices
Larger gaps between wholesalers' procurement and selling prices, which represent their costs and profits, may be a factor, a government survey has suggested.
The agriculture ministry on Friday announced a set of measures aimed at speeding up the distribution of government-released stockpiled rice to store shelves, including the creation of an auction quota for bidders ready to sell rice to retailers sooner.
JAPAN
May 16, 2025
Japan announces fresh measures to improve supply of rice
Among the measures is an auction quota for bidders ready to sell stockpiled rice to retailers within a month of purchase.
The agriculture ministry has decided to ease a key bidding rule for government-stockpiled rice which requires a buyback within a year, extending the window to five years in a bid to promote the circulation of such rice in the market.
JAPAN
May 16, 2025
Japan to ease 1-year buyback rule for stockpiled rice
By extending the limit to five years, the government hopes to secure more bidders and promote the circulation of stockpiled rice to lower prices.
SeaForest CEO Sam Elsom at the company's headquarters in Triabunna, Tasmania, on March 26
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 15, 2025
Australian seaweed farm tackles livestock burps to combat climate change
While far less abundant in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, methane is about 80 times more potent over a 20-year timescale at warming the planet.
People smoking in Yuxi, in China's southwest Yunnan province. China is home to a third of the world's smokers and tobacco-related diseases are a major cause of death in the country — a trend likely to worsen as its population rapidly ages.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 13, 2025
Tobacco town thrives as China struggles to kick the habit
China is home to a third of the world's smokers and tobacco-related diseases are a major cause of death in the country.
Despite the government releasing rice from its emergency stockpile since March, prices have remained high.
JAPAN
May 13, 2025
Rice prices finally fall, but change is in baby steps
The average supermarket price of 5 kilograms of rice dropped for the first time since December, falling ¥19 to ¥4,214.
A customer walks past a display of rice, with a sign apologizing to shoppers they must be limited to one bag each due to market conditions, at a branch of Japanese discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on April 21.
JAPAN
May 10, 2025
As prices soar, Zen-Noh ships just 32% of government-stockpiled rice
The group is currently shipping between 2,000 and 3,000 tons of rice per day, and is working to send out deliveries as quickly as possible, a Zen-Noh official said.
For Japan, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins indicated the possibility of asking for market-opening measures for agricultural products.
BUSINESS
May 6, 2025
U.S. agriculture secretary to visit Japan for trade talks
The U.S. agriculture secretary indicated the possibility of asking for market-opening measures for agricultural products.
Imba, a clove farmer who inherited 70 trees from her parents, in Ternate, North Maluku, Indonesia. Colonial powers once warred over the cloves grown on the eastern Indonesian island of Ternate. Today, farmers say the crop's gravest threat is climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 6, 2025
Climate change takes spice from Indonesia clove farms
Clove trees can take more than a decade to mature, and flowers can only be harvested in a small window that depends heavily on weather conditions.
Amid shortages, the price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice during the week of April 14 was ¥4,220.
JAPAN
May 4, 2025
Why are rice prices still high in Japan?
The average price of 5 kilograms of rice in mid-April was ¥4,220 — more than double what it cost around the same time last year.
Farmer Moises Schmidt shows a cocoa bean at the Schmidt Agricola plantation in Riachao das Neves, Bahia state, Brazil, on Nov. 19, 2024.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2025
Brazil's would-be cocoa king aims to revolutionize industry with giant farm
The farmer's $300 million plan is the largest and the most innovative in the Brazilian state of Bahia, but not the only one.
Rows of coffee and tea plants at the Tianyuzhuang coffee plantation in Pu'er, in China's southwest Yunnan province, on April 1.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 28, 2025
Chinese tea hub branches into coffee as tastes change
For centuries, Pu'er in Yunnan province has given its name to a type of richly fermented tea, but growers are increasingly branching out into a historic rival.
Milled rice at a rice mill in Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025
Trump tariffs threaten to pile more pain on Thailand's rice sector
Thailand is among the Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by Trump's proposed measures, facing a 36% tariff on goods unless ongoing negotiations are successful.
Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region of Papua. But environmentalists warn it could become the world's largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta's climate commitments.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 22, 2025
Indonesia food plan risks 'world's largest' deforestation
Deforestation linked to the plan is already underway.
A historic surge in rice prices in Japan is prompting retailers to turn to cheaper ingredients like barley and noodles in bento meal boxes to keep costs down and hold on to customers.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2025
Japanese retailers trying to overcome soaring rice prices
Some retailers are expanding the sale of lower-priced foreign rice.
Japanese products imported to the U.S. had been hit with 24% levies, although these rates, like most of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, have been paused for 90 days.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2025
Japan considering soybean and rice concessions in U.S. tariff talks: report
In their first round of bilateral talks, U.S. negotiators brought up automobiles and rice as areas where they said Tokyo puts up market barriers.
The average price for 60 kilograms of unmilled rice in March stood at ¥25,876, down 2% from the previous month.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2025
Wholesaler rice prices in Japan see first drop in eight months
The average price for 60 kilograms of unmilled rice stood at ¥25,876, down 2% from the previous month but still up 68% from 2023 rice a year before.
Ryuji Matsumoto pats one of the sheep at his farm in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Apr 14, 2025
The man behind Fukushima town's 'Strawberry Sheep'
Ryuji Matsumoto, 54, incorporates dried strawberries into the feed for his sheep, which gives their meat a certain sweetness.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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