What does Japan’s rice crisis say about its economy?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A domestic rice shortage in Japan has caused supermarket shelves to empty and prices to double. Rice is more than a staple food in Japan—it carries deep cultural, historical and even spiritual significance.
The rice crisis highlights broader weaknesses in Japan’s economy. Japan imports over half of its food and has experienced persistent inflation. The country’s economic resilience is being tested by supply chain pressures, demographic shifts, and increased trade tensions.
Efforts to address the shortage have focused on auctioning rice reserves, but underlying economic challenges persist.
Contributors: • Yi-Chun Ko, Professor, Asian Growth Research Institute, Fukuoka, Japan • Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, William F. Vilas Research Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US • Stefan Angrick, Senior Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Tokyo, Japan • Norihiro Yamaguchi, Lead Economist, Oxford Economics, Tokyo, Japan
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Louise Clarke Researcher: Katie Morgan Editor: Tara McDermott Technical producer: Richard Hannaford Production Management Assistant: Liam Morrey
Photo was supplied by Yukari Sakamoto, author of Food Sake Tokyo
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself. My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with leading journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the player's mouths. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is a unique |
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| 0:28.0 | connection to dedicated sports fans across the UK. So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC |
| 0:33.7 | Sounds where you'll find plenty more. Welcome to The Inquiry. I'm Charmaine Cozier. Each week, one question, four expert |
| 0:40.7 | witnesses and an answer. March 2025, South Korea. Two tons of rice is sold to a company in Japan, |
| 0:52.8 | and another 20 tons are on order. |
| 0:56.0 | Japan buys a lot of its food from other countries. |
| 1:00.0 | However, this is no ordinary business deal, because it's been 25 years since it last imported the staple food grain from South Korea. |
| 1:09.0 | It's happening now because homegrown rice is unavailable in many places across Japan. |
| 1:15.2 | The situation is so serious that the government makes an unusual decision to try and fix it. |
| 1:21.5 | But that plan to call demand and prices by boosting supplies isn't working. |
| 1:28.6 | So this week we're asking, what does Japan's rice crisis say about its economy? |
| 1:35.8 | Part 1, rice crisis. |
| 1:42.2 | So people walk into the supermarket in order to purchase rice, but they realize that the shelves are empty. |
| 1:50.9 | There's no rice on the shelf and they cannot get rice. |
| 1:55.2 | Echonko is a professor at the Asian Growth Research Institute in Fukuoka, Japan. |
| 2:00.9 | Even though there were no formal price controls by the retailers, |
| 2:05.6 | but some limited the amount of rice customers could buy to prevent hoarding. |
| 2:10.8 | The events that pushed Japan to a nationwide rice shortage have been simmering for some time. |
| 2:17.0 | It wasn't just one thing but was a mix |
| 2:20.1 | of short-term and long-term factors. First of all, the rice harvested in 2023 looked normal |
| 2:27.0 | in terms of quantity. But there was a problem with quality. 20203 was Japan's hottest year on |
... |
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