Rice prices in Japan fell in May for the first time in three and a half years, an official said on Friday, according to AFP.
The decline comes after a long period of sharp increases that put major pressure on the government over the country’s staple food.
Rice prices surged in 2024 and 2025 due to supply disruptions linked to several factors, including extreme heat and panic buying triggered by a “megaquake” warning two years ago.
The price surge, combined with declining living standards and corruption scandals, pushed voters away from the ruling party. It also contributed to Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation in September after less than a year in office as prime minister.
An official from the internal affairs ministry in charge of inflation data said rice prices, excluding the premium koshihikari variety, dropped 5.4 per cent in May compared to a year earlier. It marked the first decline since November 2022.
The government, now led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, has taken several steps to ease prices, including releasing emergency rice stockpiles.
Tokyo resident Jun Hongo described the drop as “a huge help”, though he still found rice expensive.
He said he recently saw a 10-kilogram bag of rice priced in the 4,000-yen ($25) range and bought it immediately after not seeing such prices for a long time.
However, he said prices remain high compared to a few years ago. He also questioned the repeated blame on supply chain issues and called for a deeper investigation into the root causes to prevent future price spikes.
Experts said several factors drove the shortage. An unusually hot and dry summer in 2023 damaged harvests across the country.
After that, some traders hoarded rice to increase future profits.
The situation worsened when panic buying followed a government warning about a possible “megaquake” in 2024 that never occurred.
Rising prices of imported food also increased demand for domestic rice, while record tourism added further pressure on consumption.
Analysts also pointed to long-term structural issues. These include decades of policy reducing rice farmland and an ageing farming population, with many farmers growing old and younger generations showing little interest in continuing the work.
