Foreign tourists blamed for Japan rice shortage as “Reiwa Rice Riots” leaves shelves bare

Tourists are said to be eating Japan out of rice, depleting the local food supply. 

Rice has long been a major staple in Japan, where people have been known to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the majority of the population can’t imagine their lives without it. So when stocks started disappearing from store shelves this summer, it created a panic in Japan, with people wanting to know what was causing the sudden shortage.

According to media reports, the shortage was affecting suppliers around the country, and interviews revealed many wholesalers were concerned, with one in the top producing region of Niigata Prefecture saying they only had 10 tonnes (2,2046 pounds) of rice left at a time when they would usually have 240 tonnes (52,919 pounds).

Other retailers echoed these concerns, saying they’d never seen anything like it, and when nationwide stock levels at the end of June were revealed to be the lowest in 25 years, many stores implemented purchase restrictions, limiting sales to one bag per person. By July, a large number of retailers were unable to provide any rice at all.

The situation has been so dire that the media has even coined a term for it — “Reiwa no Kome Soudou” (“Reiwa Rice Riots“), with “Reiwa” being the current imperial era. While there haven’t been riots in the traditional sense of the word, the shortage has led to bad behaviour in terms of panic buying and with stocks remaining low, things are yet to improve.

So what led to the shortage of rice in Japan? Well, according to professionals in the industry, the initial problem was intense heat last summer, which led to low yield in the autumn harvests. While many farmers believe this is a direct effect of global warming, they also say it’s not the only factor at play, because the record low yield coincided with a record high, in terms of inbound tourist numbers.

Farmers and wholesalers pointed out that the rapid increase in consumption of Japanese food by overseas tourists played a factor in the shortage, exacerbating the imbalance between supply and demand. With visitor arrivals numbering over 3 million per month in the four consecutive months to June, compared to 1.8 million to 2 million per month during the same period last year, this is a sharp increase in numbers, so the impact of tourism can’t be ruled out.

A poor rice harvest combined with booming tourist numbers isn’t an ideal situation for anyone — not only does it increase the price of rice when demand outweighs supply, the shortage also affects the livelihoods of farmers, wholesalers and restaurant owners, while negatively impacting regular individuals who rely on the everyday staple. However, according Hiroyuki Kishi, a former economic and industrial bureaucrat who recently appeared on a television programme in relation to the rice shortage, there may be deeper problems with the rice supply. Kishi claims that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has been encouraging farmers to grow livestock feed instead of rice due to a decrease in demand for the grain, which has reduced the amount of rice Japan produces.

While the government has now announced that stocks of rice should return to normal from September, when new harvests are produced, perhaps the Reiwa Rice Riots will prompt the government to rethink its approach to supporting rice farmers. Especially now, as tourists eat Japan out of rice and prove there is growing demand for the Japanese staple.

Sources: FNN, TBS (1, 2), JNTO
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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