Japanese farm minister apologizes after saying he has never had to buy rice

The government has been releasing rice from its emergency stockpile since March to try and lower prices, but to little avail.

Sell at fixed prices, not auction

Well to be fair... he probably never had buy in reality. Being a rich boy and all (his father was a polititian too)...

At least he's honest

Hand on - so while the rest of the country is choking on grocery bills, the actual FARM minister is flexing his bottomless gift bag of free rice like he's living in some feudal fantasy. What an idiot. If your job is to oversee food policy and your experience of the food economy is being spoon-fed by political backers, you shouldn’t be running a ministry.

And honestly, while we’re dragging things into the light - let’s talk about RICE itself. This stuff has been riding on nostalgia and cultural inertia for far too long. Rice is basically a soft, steaming pile of glucose that hits your bloodstream like a freight train, gives you a false sense of satiety, and then leaves you hungry, bloated, and wondering why you haven't pooped for 3 days. It's a high-GI filler with almost no fiber, no real micronutrient density, and a constipation habit that the country just refuses to acknowledge.

WHY do people still act like rice is the only valid staple on the planet? It’s time to evolve and move on. Japan deserves a diet that reflects modern nutrition. Hopefully, rice fades into the background where it belongs.

I can understand he didn't need to buy his rice. But where's the sense of curiosity? If he's going to be a politician, he should have an interest in knowing how normal people live. The leading candidate in South Korea's election worked in a sweat shop as a child. Now there's someone with his feet on the ground.

@Jay

And what is your main source of energy (carbohydrates)? Potatoes? Corn? Wheat?...or you are one of those who thinks that you don't need carbohydrates?

By the way, rice is a pretty good source of carbohydrates compared to whet and corn

Still rice is a better source of carbs

@Jay

And what is your main source of energy (carbohydrates)? Potatoes? Corn? Wheat?...or you are one of those who thinks that you don't need carbohydrates?

Sustainable, low-GI complex carbs - stuff that actually gives you steady energy, doesn’t wreck your blood sugar, and doesn’t leave you bloated and hungry an hour later. Not all carbs are created equal, and pretending rice, wheat, and corn are the same as fiber-rich, nutrient-dense carbs is just lazy thinking.

And uh, actually, if you’re not physically active, then no, you DON'T need carbs. That’s just a fact. Carbs are fuel for activity and nothing else. If you’re sitting at a desk all day, eating a mountain of white rice is like topping your car's fuel tank that you’re never going to drive - it just spills over into fat storage, insulin spikes, and gut issues.

actually, if you’re not physically active, then no, you DON'T need carbs

Uhh... that is a personal issue not a society issue. Have you not be in Japan?, do you know how much you need to just to commute?

Also, Japanese diet is not only based in rice... we eat plenty of weat and tuberculose and sugar too. Rice being the main source though.

Human diet is shaped not only by region and culture is a combination of those plus biology and even genetics (this last one in a long term).

Living in a society like the Japanese one, will require a good amout of carbs to function though... you may be sitting on a desk all day long, but others do move, communte and even (drammatical pause) exercices... do house chores is also carb consumming... walking the dog... going to the gym... walk to the train station, be stand up for 30 to 45 minutes in the train, going up and down stairs... the common Japanese does move a lot

Be that as it may...at least Japanese politicians have the guts to stand up & apologize.

Other country politicians....take note.

I think California has some rice....

The Japanese intelligentsia has tolerated stupid people becoming lawmakers, believing that it is not so smart people who become lawmakers. However, because of hereditary succession, too many really stupid people have become lawmakers. It is time to change this system by banning hereditary succession, etc., so that smart people become lawmakers.

His wife would be the one buying rice. Very bad taste.

So, anyhow…

This poor guy has no political instincts. He went full “ let them eat cake” and didn't even realize it.

Politicians in all countries live lives in a fantasy world.

@kokontozai

tolerated stupid people becoming lawmakers, believing that it is not so smart people who become lawmakers. However, because of hereditary succession, too many really stupid people have become lawmakers.

You litteraly described 90% of all politicians around the world

What an out of touch idiot! Hurry up and fall on your sword..time for a farm minister who actually owns a farm! Wouldn’t that be novel…!

Geez seriously you get who you vote for…. why do the Japanese continually vote for these entitled LDP embarrassments!

Lower the tariff for imported rice!

That's the problem with many politicians, they are so out of touch with the general population. Look at the BoJ governor who says that inflation is good and people finally get raises while every other headline says that it's just about 30 percent of the workers who work for big companies while the remaining 70 percent get nothing or a paltry 2000 per month. In the meanwhile, net income has been going down for 24 months straight, it's so bad that people can't even book a hotel anymore, but hey inflation is good, right. Petrol up, heating up, food up, taxes up and then you have politicians saying they don't feel the pinch

Daniel Neagari

Also, Japanese diet is not only based in rice... we eat plenty of weat and tuberculose and sugar too. 

Did you mean "wheat and tuber cellulose"?

In the countryside people like doctors and teachers often receive gifts of rice or sake.

Seriously, we should just vote out the LDP for at least ten years. I know there is no better option but this party has been in power for way too long and they need to be politically spanked. Since they cause most of our pain, let’s force them to share in it be removing them from their cushy jobs.

@Roberto Figari

By lower you mean to minus rates? Rice import tariffs are 0 for WTO countries (and the US for the moment)

proof ⇩

https://www.customs.go.jp/english/tariff/2025_04_01/data/e_10.htm

The HS code for rice is 10.06 just in case

saying he has "never had to buy rice" thanks to gifts from supporters...

... including how he "had enough (rice) to sell."

How can an MP be that tone deaf and completely detached from his constituents like that? Absolutely incredible.

I hope the opposition uses those quotes ad infinitum to drive home just how out-of-touch Jiminto is from the majority of the Japanese people.

Japan's farm minister Taku Eto apologized on Monday after saying he has "never had to buy rice" thanks to gifts from supporters, angering consumers grappling with sky-high prices of the staple food.

Japan's farm minister Taku Eto, tin eared/tone-deaf, completely obvious to the most rudimentary basic J family culinary staple food carbohydrate.

How did Taku Eto ever become Japan's farm minister, a coin toss?

SanjinosebleedToday  05:42 pm JST

Geez seriously you get who you vote for…. why do the Japanese continually vote for these entitled LDP embarrassments!

They don't. The LDP lost its majority at the last election. The last time they did get a majority, it was only with 48% of the vote with a voter turnout of only 56%. That means it's only something like a third or a quarter of the electorate who actually vote for the LDP, although you could maybe argue that a lot of the people who don't vote tacitly accept they're going to win and aren't too bothered about it. They win because the opposition vote is fragmented, without one clear alternative to get behind, because election campaigning requires heaps of money and they have heaps of money whilst opposition parties don't, and because of the vote value disparity that means lots of Diet members get elected from "LDP kingdoms."

Unfortunately there's no sign of the situation changing much for the time being.

Always impressed by how dumb politicians really are.

Jay - Rice is bad.

Daniel - Rice is good.

Regardless who is correct or incorrect, the Japanese people consume a lot of it. So, it is of vital importance to tens of millions of individuals and families.

Add to that the food service industry serving the tourist trade, and it's an important economic issue for business owners, as well.

Mr. Eto really put his foot deep into his own mouth, which is not uncommon for Jiminto members.

A new level for any politican, a ruling party cabinet member, of unfathomable ignorance, absurd idiocy,

Crikey. He’s angry about rice now.

@ garypen

I like potatoes more... though

WasabiToday  05:17 pm JST

Jay "Because wanting better for something you love is called respect. "

Japan will be happy to know that you know more than they do and will surely follow your advise from now.

I think Jay made quite a persuasive point, backed up with supporting reasons and details. If that's the best counterargument you can manage I don't advise looking for a PR job in the Japanese rice industry.

Thinking of PR though, do these silver spoon-fed LDP types not have anyone at all to tell them what is and isn't good to say in public? Even if Japan should in fact wean itself off its rice-consuming habits, we should assume that's not going to happen any time soon so that remark from the farm minister really is astonishingly tin-eared and stupid. Even by LDP standards.

Yearly consumption.

Rice: 8.1 million tons.

Flour: 6.4 million tons.

Potatoes: 2.5 million tons.

Bread: 1.18 million tons.

A politician happy to be bribed with rice and whatever else. Life is apparently very easy for some.

Japanese farm minister apologizes after saying he has never had to buy rice

Sounds about right.

Digital Minister never used a computer.

Kishida never did anything useful.

Aso never did anything but suck his teeth and suck up tax payer's money.

Nothing to see here.

A clear case of the “Let the eat (rice) cake” . Come on J leadership class. Lift your game!

Daniel Neagari

@ garypen

I like potatoes more... though

I'm a pasta man, myself.

wallace

Yearly consumption.

Rice: 8.1 million tons.

Flour: 6.4 million tons.

Potatoes: 2.5 million tons.

Bread: 1.18 million tons.

As most types of bread are mostly flour, flour consumption comes pretty close to rice consumption.

@wallace

Yearly consumption.

Rice: 8.1 million tons.

Not quite. The annual harvest in 2024 was 6.79 million tons. An additional 770,000 tons were imported, but much of the imported rice was used for feed.

—

A total of 6.79 million tons of rice was produced in 2024, 180,000 tons more than in 2023, according to the ministry. 

https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/economy/20250214-238671/

And uh, actually, if you’re not physically active, then no, you DON'T need carbs. That’s just a fact. 

No it’s utter nonsense. It’s baffling that people would think such a silly thing. You don’t need to be «physically active” to need carbs as they provide a source for energy for brain function and basic body metabolism together with other key functions.

When honesty combines with stupidity you get unemployability.

No it’s utter nonsense. It’s baffling that people would think such a silly thing. You don’t need to be «physically active” to need carbs as they provide a source for energy for brain function and basic body metabolism together with other key functions.

Again, another argument straight from the dusty pages of a high school health textbook circa 1993.

No, your brain doesn’t run on carbs. Glucose can be used for brain function, but it's not even close to being the best source.

In fact, if you reduce your carb intake, your liver starts converting fat into ketones, which your brain uses more efficiently as an energy source. That’s why people on low-carb or ketogenic diets don’t just fall into a coma, they actually report improved focus and mental clarity.

Even if you're talking about basic metabolism, carbohydrates are not a required macronutrient for survival. You know what is essential? Fats. Your brain is literally made of fat and cholesterol. Fats are crucial for hormone production, cell membrane integrity, and yes - brain function. So if you’re genuinely worried about cognitive performance, you should be paying more attention to your omega-3 intake than trying to justify another bowl of white rice.

The article mentions that the tourism boom is one of the two main factors driving the price of rice to double.

My sister-in-law told me that "the news" says foreign tourism is the main factor in the price of rice going up.

There are roughly 3 million foreign visitors a month. They don't all stay for a month, but the influx/outflux is rolling, so let's assume that there are 3 million extra mouths to feed at a given time. And let's assume that kids under the age of 5 aren't really eating rice. So we have 3 million extra mouths to feed over the 119 million Japanese over the age of 5.

I realize that there are some rather hefty gaijin about, but gaijin account for at most 2.5% of the rice-eaters in Japan at a given time. And they are largely responsible for the price going up by 100%. Right. Got it.

"...and remained at double what they were a year ago after extreme heat hit crops and a tourism boom added to demand."

It's not extreme heat -- last year was no hotter than than the aggragate of the past decade. It's because of government stupidity. Period. AND, they could reduce tariffs and import cheaper rice from elsewhere, but nope! Gotta give handouts to the farmers who don't produce enough to begin with.

@Daniel Neagari

By lower you mean to minus rates? Rice import tariffs are 0 for WTO countries (and the US for the moment)

It is tariff free up to 770,000 tons. Above that it is Y3,410 for every 10 Kg bag.

Why are people banging on about rice vs bread vs potatoes vs pasta? That’s not the story here. Did you never take a debate class?

Another agricultural problem - foot in mouth disease!

This minister hasn't apologized. Some pro-government newspaper only interpreted his evading favorably as if apology to calm public anger.

Besides, gifts for politicians are illegal fundamentally.

the photo is absolutely fitting, white tie signifying his celebratory mood

Taku writes note in diary: Ask someone where rice is sold. Need photo(s) of me buying rice.

With Ishiba at the top, you'd expect this is the best cabinet he can round up. Shinjiro has got to step up and roll.

The farm minister needs to work on a farm for a week.

@Daniel Neagari

By lower you mean to minus rates? Rice import tariffs are 0 for WTO countries (and the US for the moment)

proof ⇩

https://www.customs.go.jp/english/tariff/2025_04_01/data/e_10.htm

The HS code for rice is 10.06 just in case

The 0% tax rate only applies to goods within the quota and imported by the government. It does not apply to the amount of rice outside the quota or imported by private individuals.

Simply, you cannot explain why US rice exports cost ~690 USD/ton (about 100,000 yen/ton = 1,000 yen for a 10kg bag), but the Japanese market sells it at such a high price?

Vietnamese rice costs ~390 USD/ton (550 yen for a 10kg bag). When it reaches Japan, the price is only slightly cheaper than Japanese rice. 

With a 0% tax rate, like you said, who gets the difference?

Peter NeilToday  04:16 am JST

I wonder if what he did before taking over his father’s seat in parliament 22 years ago?

Another Nippon Kaigi guy, kind of like Japanese MAGA years before MAGA. 

Except that it's not what you might call a grassroots populist movement. It's more like elderly rich men you've never heard of occupying various important positions, and advancing their agenda as far away from the political spotlight as they can get.

kokontozaiMay 19 05:34 pm JST

The Japanese intelligentsia has tolerated stupid people becoming lawmakers, believing that it is not so smart people who become lawmakers. However, because of hereditary succession, too many really stupid people have become lawmakers. It is time to change this system by banning hereditary succession, etc., so that smart people become lawmakers.

lol, hasn't helped america

Probably true in his case. I'm sure he came from a rich family and probably still is, but no biggie.