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Sushi. Onigiri. Carrie Reso. Ochazuke. Rice is the sticky basis, a little sweet of endless Japanese dishes, and a symbol of the country’s history and culture. Now, Prime Minister Ishiba Chigro may cost his job.
A decrease in rice was placed for months in the faults of the agricultural policy of the ruling Democratic Party, before the decisive elections on July 20. If the party, which was subject to control of the upper hall of the Japanese parliament-will be lost as it will deal with new opinion polls-he will deal with another blow to Mr. Ishiba, and can breastfeed Japanese policies in a state of policies.
Party leaders are working hard to soften matters. In May, they cut the price of the wet rice reserves practically in half, while maintaining the basic grains on the shelves at the present time, and they have them. I promised to reform the rice policy in the nation.
Why did we write this
The continuous lack of rice in Japan brings greater awareness of farmers ’issues, and more scrutiny in the liberal democratic party for a long time, before the critical parliamentary elections.
However, frustrated farmers and those who have long been critical of politics are eager to hold more accountability. It may not be sufficient to respond to voters, either; A survey of NHK, which was released this week, explains the CEO ISHIBA approval and its support for LDP, as each decreased by 8 % over the past month, as it drowned by 31 % and 24 %, respectively. In fact, some voters are still trying to wrap their heads on how their primary crop appears in the first place.
“This is not logical at all,” says a housewife Nakason Ricky, who pushes a vehicle through the Don Quejote discount market in Ayama, Japan. Inside the vehicle, one valuable element: a bag of 11 pounds of reserved rice, at a cost of $ 14.50, or about half the average market price. It is the first rice at a reasonable price that I managed to find more than a month ago, and the store sets each customer from one bag to discourage storage.
“If such a situation continues, Japan will collapse,” she says.
Another LDP test
This deficiency comes after a few difficult years for the Democratic Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for 66 years of past 70 years.
I regret the assassination of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in 2022 to the party’s controversial links with the Tawhid Church. A scandal to collect political donations the following year led to many prominent resignations and landing. Last October, weeks after the distant party commander, Mr. Ishiba, attempted to restore the confidence of the public in the Democratic Democratic Party through the fast lower home elections. It led to reverse results, with the loss of the ruling coalition – LDP and its novice partner, Cometo – their majority.
If the coalition loses control of the House of Representatives on Sunday, Mr. Ishiba is likely to face calls to step down.
In the period leading up to the elections, many opposition parties set the rice policy in the forefront and the center. The Constitutional Democratic Party in Japan has pledged to improve the government’s system to compensate rice farmers to maintain land and invest in training new farmers, among other measures. Training new surveys for them to win in many regions of northeastern Japan, which is a hidden area.
“Agricultural issues have never been subject to careful scrutiny before,” said Suzuki Nobohiro, a professor of agricultural economy at the College of Graduate Studies for Agriculture and Life at Tokyo University.
Mr. Suzuki was a former official in the Ministry of Agriculture, and he had a few months crowded on the media and the public speaking in the public, where the Japanese are trying to understand the deficiency. It attributes the crisis to the policy of reducing the controversial spaces in Japan, which has been reduced for decades of rice production for price stability. On paper, this policy ended in 2018, but farmers say it continued informally with the government’s subsidies and incentives for farmers who reduce active agricultural lands or turn to other crops.
Critics say that this policy has left cultivation lands, as critics say, which contributes to the worst shortage of rice in Japan since 1993, when it was the unusual cold summer rice.
At that time, Japan had no reserves to deal with a shortage, and forced to import rice from Thailand, which angered consumers.
This time, the government was able to benefit from nearly a million metric tons of the Japanese store-but after a few months, these reserves are spent. There is still only 150,000 metric tons, which the Ministry of Agriculture did not decide whether to be exported to the market.
Japan loves rice, but do you like rice farmers?
“We are facing a national crisis,” says Watanabi Emery, a housewife in Tokyo and the unspecified voters. She says she has never thought about farmers ’positions, and she was surprised by the high prices of rice this spring.
She recently wandered and bought a 8.8 -pound bag of rice cherozing in the United States in Ion, a major supermarket chain, for about $ 20.
“This is not bad at all,” she admits.
This may be music for US President Donald Trump, as Tokyo threatens definitions and Press Japan To buy American rice – but not for farmers like Sugno Seiju, which tends to the sprawling rice fields in Fukushima.
“I would like the public to understand that rice farmers are working hard to protect the Japanese diet, the environment and the rural scenes,” he says. The average age of rice farms in Japan is about 70 years, and Ekees is in small income amid high fuel costs, agricultural equipment and other basic supplies.
For Mr. Suzuki, the support of local farmers means abandoning the space limiting program once and for all. “Then, it will be very important for the government to penetrate the measures that encourage the management of effective and stable farms, and help to keep farmers and attract them new,” he says.
Mr. Sujino, politicians such as Mr. Ishiba and the Minister of Agriculture, Cuzomi Shingero are trying to save the face before the elections – if the Democratic Democratic Party is wandering, it does not expect much change. But he welcomes attention that the Supreme Council’s deficiency and elections have brought agricultural issues.
It is a feeling that Mrs. Nakason shares, in Oyama Don Quijote. She says that the silver lining of this deficiency in rice is that it has revealed more voters – including itself – to the engines of rice farmers.
“We have relied a lot on the government,” she says. “Everyone should be more aware of the issues.”