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October 03, 2025
 

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RICE

Haruo Tsukamoto, a rank-and-file member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a rice farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture, questions if the party still stands for people like him.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2025
The party that ruled Japan for decades is in danger of crumbling
Long-time supporters are questioning if the Liberal Democratic Party still stands for them even as populist and far-right challengers make inroads.
Hidehisa Shinohara sells new rice harvested this year at his rice milling shop in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2025
Japan rice prices turn higher despite arrival of new crop
The average price at supermarkets across Japan stood at ¥4,275 per 5 kilograms, up for three consecutive weeks.
A farmer harvests rice with a combine harvester in a paddy field in Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture, last month.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2025
Rice demand for year through June estimated to be up to 7.1 million tons
2025's staple rice production is forecast at between 7.28 million and 7.45 million tons, surpassing the initial estimate of 6.69 million tons for 2024.
Rice farmer Toru Wakui in his rice paddies in Ogata, Akita Prefecture, in August
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2025
For Japan's rice growers, postwar policy shifts yet to deliver stable future
Amid renewed tightness in supply and a spike in prices, officials have been urging farmers to plant more, marking yet another reversal in Japan's 80 years of agricultural policy.
Government-stockpiled rice to be sold to help bring down high prices sits on display in a Tokyo grocery store on May 31.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2025
Rice prices in Japan rebound to 13-week high
The average price rose ¥264 from the previous week to ¥4,155 in the week through Sept. 7, up for the second straight week.
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.
A secret no more: Russia and North Korea's battle against Ukraine is celebrated in Moscow exhibit
A woman visits an exhibition of North Korean art at a museum in Moscow on Monday.
Prices to rise for 3,024 food products in Japan in October
A wide range of products will see higher prices due to rising material and labor costs.
Koizumi and Takaichi continue to lead in LDP presidential race, polls show
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (right) reacts as former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the Liberal Democratic Party Presidential Election Candidate Debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, on Sept. 24. Koizumi and Takaichi remain head-to-head in the race, media polls show.
The party that ruled Japan for decades is in danger of crumbling
Haruo Tsukamoto, a rank-and-file member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a rice farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture, questions if the party still stands for people like him.
Same-sex partners recognized under more laws in Japan
A couple poses with the rainbow flag, which they brought from their home for a wedding photoshoot in Tokyo in November 2023.
Japan's far-right party courts Trump allies and vows not to get 'wacky'
Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
How Ohtani has boosted Japan's soft power and made LA even more baseball-obsessed
Fans at Dodger Stadium pose in front of a mural highlighting the Dodgers' Japanese stars from past and present during a game earlier this year.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
Yuanhui Li's illustration is one of the awardees in the student category of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' annual award for artists.
On defense and foreign policy, LDP candidates largely align — except where they don’t
The Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates in Nagoya on Friday

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

Longform

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