The recent tumultuous rice price situation in Japan has been a rollercoaster ride. Beginning with a poor harvest in 2023 and a minor rice shortage in the late summer of 2024, many began to think Japan ...

SANJŌ, Japan — All is calm at Satoshi Yamazaki's rice farm, with its freshly planted rows of vivid-green seedlings, but a row over the cost of the staple in Japan is threatening to deal the government ...

The price of rice in Japan has doubled in the last year. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with University of Pittsburgh scholar Kay Shimizu about what's behind the shortage in the homeland of sushi. Remember ...

In response to soaring supermarket rice prices, the Japanese government released 210,000 tonnes of rice from its emergency reserves in February 2025, despite an abundance of rice production in the ...

TOKYO — Rice is a staple in Japanese culture and cuisine, so much so that the word for “meal” is synonymous with “cooked rice.” But demand for the grain is rapidly outstripping supply, causing prices ...

ASAHIKAWA, Japan - Nobuo Kubo inherited his rice farm four decades ago, becoming the third generation in his family to look after the lush fields at the base of Mount Daisetsu. The pristine snow melt ...

TOKYO — Japan's agriculture minister resigned Wednesday because of political fallout over recent comments that he "never had to buy rice" because he got it from supporters as gifts. The resignation ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

The Japanese government held a rare auction this week to make up for a rice shortage that an official called “truly unthinkable.” By Kiuko Notoya and Yan Zhuang Kiuko Notoya reported from Tokyo, and ...

Shinjiro Koizumi, agriculture minister of Japan, eats a rice ball during his visit to a rice farm in Sugito, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Shinjiro Koizumi, agriculture ...