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. Credit - Soichiro Koriyama—Getty ...

A simmering crisis over staple rice has suddenly boiled over in Japan. Since 2023, a punishing heatwave slashed harvests to their lowest in over a decade. As of June 2025, a 5-kilogram bag of ...

After months of increasing rice prices, Japanese consumers may be finally getting some relief. Stream San Diego News for free, 24/7, wherever you are with NBC 7. Data from Japan's agriculture ministry ...

TOKYO (AP) -- Rice is essential to Japanese culture, tradition and politics. People take pride in the oval-shaped sticky Japonica grain, which is still a staple even though total consumption has ...

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 snowmelt ...

TOKYO (AP) — Rice is essential to Japanese culture, tradition and politics. People take pride in the oval-shaped sticky Japonica grain, which is still a staple even though total consumption has fallen ...

KISARAZU, Japan (Reuters) -At a farmer's market not far from Tokyo, more than 100 shoppers queued for a chance to get a kilo or so of Japanese rice for 500 yen ($3.32) by carefully heaping as much of ...

Whether it’s posting pictures of him eating gyudon (beef bowl) between meetings or holding rice balls at campaign stops, Shinjiro Koizumi has worked hard to portray himself as a regular Tokyoite. The ...

After months of increasing rice prices, Japanese consumers may be finally getting some relief. Data from Japan's agriculture ministry revealed that the average price of a five-kg bag of rice had ...

A rice field in Mito, Japan, where farmers are being encouraged to grow more of the staple crop to make up for shortages on store shelves, on Wednesday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Elaine Kurtenbach) ...