Japan Rice Shortage: Updated Feb. 21, 2025.

Japan to release 210,000 tons from rice reserves amid surging prices

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250214/p2g/00m/0bu/012000c

Commentary:

Rice, especially Japanese rice is a cultural icon and most Japanese people only want to eat Japanese rice while the Japanese government usually have high tariffs on foreign rice entering Japan.

At the same most likely many Japanese businesses use foreign rice when making rice dishes and of course the restaurants and supermarkets have to identify if they are using or selling foreign rice.

The so-called rice shortage of the summer of 2024 was unusual as the weather might have been a factor is the supply being less than normal.

At these same time, again, maybe the Japanese distribution system was/is a little slow in identifying when there are shortages and or not able to move reserves through the system quick enough to keep supplies adequate for Japanese consumers and Japanese businesses.

Not say anything bad, but this should have happened back in the summer of 2024 and that way there would be enough rice in the market for everyone before the Japanese government attempted to study the situation and then make as decision.

There should be checks in the system,when the level of supply gets too low, then either increase the supply of foreign rice and or releases the reserves that the Japanese government has ton hand and immediately move it into the market for use by Japanese consumers, as needed.

Japanese consumers should not have to wait for the Japanese government or red tape before they see enough supplies in the marketplace and there should never be supply shortage of any staple such as rice, bread, eggs,meat, and milk.

In Japan, like other major economies, there should be price controls on staples, again, such milk, eggs bread, rice and some meat as a way to keep the price normal for average consumers and that way they don't have to go without or choose one staple over the other.

Sometimes the Japanese government moves too slow, but that is government everywhere, globally, as when everyone in the summer of 2024 knew there was going to be a rice shortage, again, the Japanese government should have released the use of more foreign rice and or released the use of the reserves of rice the Japanese government had at the time, instead of waiting to see how it would play out in the marketplace.

Again, as rice is an important staple for Japanese consumers the Japanese government should always monitor the market and the supply levels and ensure there is enough of a supply to keep the price at a normal level for average Japanese consumers in the marketplace.

The sharp rice the number of tourists should not have caused a major rice shortage and maybe whomever is using foreign tourists as a scapegoat for the rice shortage and the government lack of keeping track of the rice shortage in 2023 and maybe the summer of 2024 too.

There are always going to be challenges with the growing season, as its a given now globally with global warming and extreme weather conditions. The Japanese government, and other governments, need to ensure the food supply is safe and there is adequate supplies available and not let supplies run low, again on food staples such as bread, rice, milk, potatoes, eggs, and some kinds of meat too. 

And again, no government should let a staple such as rice, get of of control related to prices and it significantly affects average consumers in any economy, as they should at least have temporary price controls to keep prices even and not get too high or even too low.

Unfortunately in Japan especially Japanese society is always on edge related to possible earthquakes, hurricanes/typhoons, and even tsunamis, and as such the advisory warning in August might have scared a lot of Japanese citizens and they might have resorted to hording of many kind of products including rice, which of course made the already supply shortage even worse.

And again, why did the farm ministry wait until February 2025 to release its stockpiled rice when the rice prices related to supply shortages had been very high since the summer of 2024, making it every difficult for the average Japanese consumer to buy rice.

Japan has been going through a lot of challenges since the pandemic hit and the challenges seem to keep happening with inflation causing a lot of challenges and then the rice supply shortages it even worse and then there is the weak Japanese yen, which causes all imports into Japan to be even more expensive than normal.

Why would the Japanese government need to buy back the same rice is sells to the cooperative if they are worried there might be more rice shortages in the future. 

There is should never be possibility of a price collapse or a sudden drop in prices, which might be related to a over-supply in the market, 

There is always the global rice market to consider and maybe for example, as has been suggested in other articles that Taiwan has been producing Japanese rice with the help of scientists to duplicate the kind of Japanese rice that Japanese like and prefer.

If its true the rice made in Taiwan should be an easy replacement for rice supplies in Japan, when there are possible prices shortages so that average Japanese consumers don't have to pay significantly high prices for a normal staple in Japan.

Have a nice day!

Japanese Supermarkets and Valentine's Day Chocolate: Updated Feb. 20, 2025

Supermarkets top pick for buying Valentine's Day chocolates in Japan amid price hikes: poll

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250212/p2a/00m/0bu/013000c

Commentary:

Traditionally in Japan, buying chocolates always happened in Japanese department stores and the departments usually had the best and of course most expensive chocolate offerings.

For example, whenever I visited Sogo department store at Yokohama eki, subway/train station they had many counters near the front related to chocolates and or strawberry cakes and so on.

Only recently because of the continued inflation in Japan, have Japanese consumers gravitated to the supermarkets which of course offer cheaper brands of chocolate gift sets.

But as we see, at 31% for supermarkets and 29% for departments stores there is not a big difference between the two choices as maybe the quality of department chocolates appeals to some and the lower price of supermarket chocolates appeals to others.

And at 15 percent for e-commerce sites online shopping of chocolates like at Amazon or even some chocolate making companies offering online purchases online shopping has not affected the buying of chocolates at the other two offerings, even though online shopping of course has become common place globally now.

There were 900 supposed women in the survey which might seem OK, but it distorts the results unless of course the survey company only wanted to see where women were buying their chocolate gifts for Valentines day.

Of course back in 2022, the pandemic might have still been on peoples minds and didn't want to buy at supermarkets or departments that much but chose e-commerce sites instead.

But even in 2022 it seemed department stores with the highest quality chocolate offering was still the number 1 choice.

But again, supermarkets, with lower costs chocolates and less quality seemed to appeal to some or many in 2023 and 2024.

It seems, even though its known that supermarket chocolate gift offerings are less quality than department stores offerings, it might be because of inflation and higher costs at the department stores that consumers in Japan are willing to sacrifice quality for price these days.

And or, as other articles have suggested the giving of chocolates has lost its luster so consumers in Japan are not buying the most expensive chocolates normally found at Japanese department stores, instead buying the cheaper chocolates at supermarkets.

But again, at 31% and 29 percent between supermarkets and department stores there is not a lot of variance or difference between the two, as may supermarkets might have had an advantage as Japanese consumers, went to supermarkets more than departments stores and it was more convenient to buy the chocolates at the supermarket, while there, instead of making another trip to a department store.

Again, the number of respondents was very low at 46% or less than half of the total of 900, which in itself might not be a big deal, but would have been better if more had responded.

And yes, of course price might have had a affect on where they bought their chocolate gifts, but again also maybe the importance of buying quality chocolates has lost its importance in Japan, so Japanese women instead chose the cheaper option at a supermarket.

Also the fact that women spent less could be related to the increase in price and or placing less emphasis on the important of Valentines Day might have been a reason for less spending.

Have a nice day!

Toyota Union and Wage Hikes: Updated Feb. 18, 2025

Toyota union seeks wage hike on par with 2024's decades-high raise

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250212/p2g/00m/0bu/020000c

Commentary:

The Toyota Motor Corp. is usually the company with the most power in Japan and all other companies follow that Toyota does, especially related to wage increases.

So most likely Toyota is talking for all the other Japanese companies and wage increases in April.

The challenge is going to be the small and midsize companies which don't have the resources that the large companies have and might not be able to pay the same wages as the large companies.

Japan is in the middle of a labor shortage, which means Japanese workers have a choice in companies to choose from so most likely some or many small and midsize companies will not be able to meet the demands of the short labor market and lost out of some of the better talent in the market place.

The Bank of Japan can't do everything to help the Japanese economy so companies increasing wages is the way for the market place to help improve the Japanese economy.

Toyota most likely collaborated with other Japanese companies on what they needed and Toyota then signaled what other companies wanted in wage increases for April 2025.

But again, its quite possible some of the larger companies too might have challenges with wage increases, they risk losing qualified candidates if they can't match what other companies in their sectors are doing.

Back around the year 2,000 Toyota decided not to give wage increases which might have set in motion the two decades period of no wage increases or very low wage increases until last year.

Most likely there is a new group of managers at Toyota which sees the need to pay wage increases for the good of the company not to mention they need to keep wages at a competitive level to attract the best and brightest in Japan.

Of course, again, Toyota has the resources to pay the high wages increases but maybe Nissan, which is having financial challenges nowt might not be able to match Toyota wage increase.

Nissan and Honda just ended its negotiations to merge both companies as it looked like Honda had the upper hand in the negotiations which Nissan didn't like so they ended the meetings.

The 18,000 wage increase might be good enough for those in Nissan's union but what about the wage or salary for those jus starting out in the company. Will it be enough to attract talented workers to Nissan.

Honda is in much better financial shape that Nissan so they afford to pay a little more than what Nissan is offering.

It seems like most of the large Japanese companies are offering about the same amount with some a little more and some a little less depending on the sector.

Once again, Japan is in the middle of a labor shortage that might not be eased anytime soon, as maybe Japan immigration is not willing to allow a lot of foreign workers into Japan to meet the labor shortage.

For example, if Japan would utilize its existing resources correctly such as using more women in the labor force and or allow more women students in the technical and engineering areas at universities it might help significantly with the labor shortage in Japan.

And then Japan should eliminate its mandatory retirement age of 60 or 65 and let all who are able and willing to work continue to work and that too could significantly reduce labor shortage in Japan.

Most likely many of the large companies are going to increase wages by at least 5 percent or more but the challenge is with small and midsize companies that don't have the same resources and the large companies and as a result might not be able to match the large company wage increases which means they might not be able to attract the best and brightest in Japan.

At the same its been suggested that up to 70 percent of Japanese workers don't work for the large companies in Japan but small and midsize companies which means they might not get near the 5 plus wage increase that large companies are planning on doing.

So it means maybe 70 percent of the Japanese workforce will have wage increases less than inflation of less that inflation that increases every month.

Have a nice day!

Japan Current Account: Updated Feb. 17, 2025.

 

Japan logs record 29 trillion yen current account surplus in 2024

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250210/p2g/00m/0bu/008000c

Commentary:
Maybe Japan keeps track of its current account a lot and seems to keep the media informed about it but there is rarely anything in the US media about the US current account.

That might be because Japan is heavily focused on exports and the need to have exports be and economic driver for the Japanese economy such as Japanese cars and recently foreign tourism which county as an export item too.

As the Japanese yen if very weak now it is positive for exporters, Japanese overseas investors and foreigner coming to Japan too.

Japan has become more dependent on exports, foreign direct investments, and foreign travelers more and more as its domestic economy just can't seem to help with economic growth.

The Bank of Japan, while suggesting the weak Japanese yen is causing havoc with importers and the domestic economy, it can't ignore the positives of the weak Japanese yen, and how its also helping the Japanese economy.

It seems Japan has become very dependent on any export that can help the economy has overall not much as worked or helped the Japanese economy but exports, foreign investments and foreign travelers to Japan.

Goods trade is always subject to consumer trends and consumer demand so it not probable that goods trade is always going to be positive each quarter or each year.

At the present time the global economy is experiencing a boom in demand for semiconductor-making equipment and the trend is only going to be get stronger.

Demand for Japanese cars is always strong or at leas very good, but that could easily change in the future if the US administration puts a tariff on products coming from overseas as it could increase prices and demand could be less than expected.

Japan is a resource-poor country which means it has to import much of what it needs and its subject to global price changes and the weak yen which inflates the prices of imported good in Japan.

It seems that at this time foreign tourists are leading the growth of the Japanese economy which makes foreign tourist spending an economic driver for the Japanese economy.

An economic driver is anything that significantly improves economic growth such as the exporting of Japanese cars globally and now foreign tourist spending in Japan.

Because the Japanese yen is very weak now its good for Japanese travelers to go to Europe or the US because of the EU Euro and US dollar are just too strong and Japanese travelers lost spending power, which means the yen buys less in the EU or the US.

If not now, it has been suggested, there might be the challenge of over-tourism in Japan is some areas such as Osaka and Kyoto which might have problems and need to impose a travel tax or something to alleviate the trash which foreigners leave and also the overcrowding at popular spots in Japan.

Have a nice day!

Japan and Tourism: Updated Feb. 14, 2025.

 

Opinion: The superficial notion of Japanese as 'polite people'

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250207/p2a/00m/0op/004000c

Commentary:

Inbound tourism seems to be at record levels in 2024 and maybe 2025 too, but what has caused the sudden increase in tourists who want to travel to Japan. In 2019, there was a record year of 31 million so all sudden travelers want to travel to Japan.

Many countries in Asia might be just a hospitable as Japan so why Japan and not China or South Korea or any other country in Asia.

Of course the weak Japanese yen might be a big reason to go to Japan as the weak yen gives tourists more purchasing power. But you still have to pay for airline tickets which have gone up significantly since the pandemic.

Foreign tourists in Japan want to experience many things including food that is best or most popular in Japan. 

And yes, unfortunately, not all tourists are nice or polite as evidenced by the situation near Mount Fuji and the Lawson convenience store as tourist trying to take pictures and disrupting  many of the locals in that small town

Over-tourism has become a major challenge for many cities such as Kyoto which has considered an over-tourism tax that will be charged for those staying in hotels in the Kyoto area.

Yes, these and many other challenges that rude foreigners do in Japan unfortunately these days.

It reminds me of my time on Guam and working at a coffee shop in the largest hotel there, where many foreigners from a certain country which I won't mention didn't know how to be polite in and around the coffee shop area. 

A person of the same country said they are new to traveling and haven't learned what is rude and not rude yet in other countries.

Yes, most likely, many travelers from different countries don't know how to be polite when traveling and yes, even those from the US can be the worst sometimes even in 2025.

Even though those examples were about Japan in the 60's and 70's and they were just beginning to travel abroad, but today its just as bad in any country these days.

But fortunately it seems the Japanese have learned how to be more polite when traveling abroad some might suggest the most polite travelers now in the world.

Yes back in the 70's Japanese tourists probably had a superiority complex and might be why they treated others in Asia not so good back then and maybe even some today.

But unfortunately, there are still examples of Japanese immigration treating Caucasians better than those from Asia countries.

But the same can be seen in South Korea too as they sometimes don't treat Asian tourists very good except they want their money of course.

It must be considered that not all Japanese travelers are polite and not all Chinese tourists are bad, as there are good and bad in all countries. 

For example, I know of examples of rich Japanese who think they are better than anyone else and they act like it and are very rude to anyone who is not rich.

And yes, there TV shows that like to criticize foreigners in Japan and they only see a few incidents and not look at the big picture related to all the polite foreign travelers from a country, such as China who never cause any problems.

Over-tourism can be very challenging in Japan as the crowds and such could cause some tourists to be less polite and might forget how to be polite in Japan.

Every country probably has experienced its version of international thugs at one or another as people are people and anyone and everyone can be not so polite about something.

And yes, no country is superior to any other country despite what the current US administration thinks at this time.

All countries have good people and not so good people and all countries have polite travelers and not so polite travelers.

Lets stop blaming a few that are not polite and thinking all people from a country are the same way, as some people think. Not all people from a country are the same.

Have a nice day!

Japan Real Wages: Updated Feb. 11, 2025.

 

Japan real wages drop for 3rd straight yr in 2024 as inflation bites

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250205/p2g/00m/0bu/004000c

Ideas:
Japan wage hikes usually only happen once a year in April at the beginning of the new fiscal year. And of course inflation is year round so its not a surprise that wage increases were not enough to overcome increases in inflation.

Yes, wage increases were the highest in 33 years in Japan but problem as been wage increases have been very little or not at all the past 20 years in Japan.

Nominal wages don't tell the real story as they are wage and inflation combined so they don't show the real story about wages and inflation in Japan.

Consumer prices, again, are not once a year and can be every month while again, wage increases only happen in April the beginning of the new fiscal year in Japan.

Consumer prices might have decreased some but they are probably still high for some income groups in Japan.

Yes, bonuses for small Japanese companies might have helped as small Japanese companies and midsize companies don't have the ability to pay the wage increases as large Japanese companies. 

Wages in Japan compared to the other OECD countries are not as good as Japanese companies/society uses bonuses two times a year to make up for the low wages.

But even then, with the bonuses paid in December and May, they probably when added with the wages are still not good compared to wages in other OECD countries.

Japan has a long way to go to try and be competitive with wages in other OECD countries as its 2 decade freeze on wages has not been good for Japan and Japanese households.

Any increase in real wages is good and needed in Japan, but at the same time 0.6 percent from the year before is still not good for many Japanese households.

Again, nominal wages are not a true indicator for wages in Japan as they also include inflation added to wages.

Real wages are what is important as they indicate the purchasing power of Japanese households in Japan. 

Have a nice day!

Japan Farm Exports: Updated Feb. 12, 2025.

 

Japan's farm exports up 3.7% to 1.5 tril. yen in 2024, new record

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250204/p2g/00m/0bu/026000c

Ideas:

As the Japanese population continues to decrease Japan's agricultural industry needs to find other sources of revenue. And as foreign tourism continues to set record numbers foreign want to go back to their countries and continue to eat Japanese food, so the idea Japanese food, globally, is gaining a lot of popularity these days.

And of course exports,with the weak Japanese yen,  Japanese exporters get more for their products these days which helps a lot too. 

The challenge for the agricultural industry is the farmers in Japan are getting older and older and not many young people want to go into farming or work in the rural areas as they all want to go to Osaka, Nagoya, or the Tokyo are to live and work.

The Chinese ban of Japanese seafood is only related to exports to China as Chinese tourists coming to Japan continue to eat and try Japanese seafood.

Yes, again, its a high hurdle, and the high hurdle could be related to the farm sector or industry losing a lot of farmers to do old age and young people not wanting to be farmers, and then there is the idea of farm land being lost for a number of reasons, which means less farm products being produced every year.

Of course its good to segment or determine what each country wants and needs depending on whats popular in every country, as what might be popular in Canada might not be popular in France for example. 

Besides the seafood ban in China the Chinese economy seems to be going through a economic transition at this time and might not fully recover for a year or two.

Hong Kong and Taiwan continue to like all things Japanese which is evidenced by the number of HK and Taiwanese tourists going to Japan these days.

And the US too these days in all in on Japanese products not to mention Japanese cars which are still running strong in the US. 

Green tea exports from Japan to other countries in Japan, it seems like the products in the US Japanese restaurants are not exactly the same as when I would visit Japan. 

But that just might be the need to localize the Japanese product for US consumer tastes compared to Japanese tastes.

In this article there is no mention of ramen products or packaged ramen, which I'm sure is very popular in the US these days.

At the same time, having lived and worked in South Korea for many years, South Korean ramen products seem to be very popular, globally, too these days for whatever the reason.

Have a nice day!