Japan's rice stockpile has fallen to its lowest level in decades and hungry tourists are partly to blame, according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. The ministry said Tuesday that inventory in the private sector is down 20% year over year and at its lowest level since at least 1999, Japan Today reports. Japan's population is shrinking, but with tourist numbers surging to record levels since the lifting of COVID restrictions, the "increase in demand by foreign tourists" has hit supplies, ministry official Hiroshi Itakura told AFP. But the main reason for the low rice supply is a decline in production caused by high temperatures and water shortages, he said.
Itakura said another reason for the record-low inventory is the relative cheapness of rice compared to wheat and other crops. That low price is among the reasons few young people are becoming rice farmers, further hitting production, the Guardian notes.
- Itakura said there are no rice shortages, and the government doesn't plan to tap its own stockpile, though the Japan Times reports that some supermarkets are restricting purchases to prevent panic buying. "It is the first time rice has been so scarce since the 'rice riots of the Heisei era,'" said Hiromichi Akiba, chief of supermarket chain Akidai, referring to a rice shortage in 1993 that did not result in any actual rioting.
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