• aeronmelon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    183
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 day ago

    Clarification: They are queuing for cheap rice.

    I can go to any supermarket in my city and buy rice. I just have to be willing to pay four times what I’m used to for it. It is getting harder to find supermarkets still selling 10kg bags because those things are approaching ¥10,000.

    Japan has had a more severe shortage of potato chips than this.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      16 hours ago

      for cheap rice

      But isn’t this just the definition of a shortage? The thing becomes scarce and so what IS available becomes incredibly expensive? I don’t see the differentiation you are trying to make. Wild price inflation happens when there is in fact not enough of the thing to go around.

    • Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      20 hours ago

      Isn’t it not just cheap rice, but cheap Japanese rice? People in Asia are very particular about rice. They should be, rice from Japan, China, Cambodia, Taiwan, etc. all have a different taste. Nationalism plays in to it, but they are different. I think rice might be the ultimate Terroir crop.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        16 hours ago

        Not just Asia, Italians and Spaniards are also quite particular about rice.

        • Railcar8095@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          15 hours ago

          Look, I’m not particular about rice, but if I see long rice on the risotto, what I’ll do isn’t even covered in the Geneva conventions.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            15 hours ago

            …that’s exactly what I mean. All the broken bits and pieces get shipped to Germany to make Milchreis because it really doesn’t matter what the grains look like if you’re soaking them to smithereens anyway. Into pudding, that is. Which you should totally try on a cold day: Dump into sweetened milk (vanilla if you want), quick boil, 30-40 minutes of soaking at falling/low heat, add cinnamon, maybe some coarse raw sugar for texture variation, eat as-is or with apple sauce.

            Only got Jasmin or such at home and still crave the stuff? Well, prepare it. Nothing’s stopping you.

    • djmikeale@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      24 hours ago

      That is wild! In Denmark I buy rice for 15 kr (~2€) / kg. Granted, it’s probably nowhere near the quality of Japanese rice. But still, what a price difference.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        22 hours ago

        Setting aside the rice shortage, the Japanese government has laws in place to keep rice prices high for… I have no idea why. A big part of the shortage is that blowing up in their faces.

        • arcterus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          37
          ·
          22 hours ago

          I’m guessing it’s to protect the rice farmers, since if the price decreases enough, they’ll have to either produce other crops or do something else entirely. They’re already having enough problems with people moving to cities, so I doubt they want to create even more incentive.

          • KMAMURI@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            20 hours ago

            Farms in Japan are likely disappearing as they are elsewhere. Attempting to protect domestic supply isn’t a bad idea. Doing it in a way that is not detrimental to the population would probably be helpful.

    • Fleur_@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      16 hours ago

      Oh so it’s only poor people who are struggling. Not to worry then. Back to it lads.