divinda comments

The gov't traffic "experts" will probably address this issue by installing more traffic lights.

The problem with stop lights is that there are WAY too many of them, particularly in the countryside where they just disrupt the flow of traffic because most do not have motions sensors so they automatically go red even though no other car is at the tiny cross street waiting, or a just single k-truck is there but the light stays red for everyone else for 2+ minutes.

The amount of gasoline and diesel that is wasted and emissions created from needing to unnecessarily stop when multiplied by every car and truck for every trip for every day of the year is ridiculous, not to mention the amount of time that is collectively lost in the lives of everyone while they are forced to wait.

despite anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan following the radioactive contamination of a Japanese fishing boat in the mid-1950s.

Me thinks the anti-nuke sentiment in Japan may have instead started from a pair of incidents which occurred about a decade earlier....

"I sort of cringe at women because of their strong image,"

Words of a weak and insecure man.

seeing the potential for matcha exports, the government began subsidizing green tea production 

Japan: the only country where a high demand commodity which has high market value somehow still needs a government subsidy.

Speaking to reporters...

Did any reporter there have the common sense to then ask him what he would do instead to swiftly reduce the price of what is clearly price-gouged rice in this obviously broken system?

“Nagoyaka ni STOP shite ne,”

Considering how painfully in debt the J-gov is, trimming budgets should be a priority and wastefully paying people to do such tasks only increases the debt burden, so indeed, Nagoya should STOP this.

Wow, impressed with the (supposed..) sense urgency, but why is it only considered an urgent issue now?

This has been issue seriously affecting literally everyone in the public for almost 10 months... well, everyone except the former agriculture minister apparently.

due in part to a poor harvest and growing demand for rice-based dishes amid a boom in inbound tourism.

Wish they would say the truth for once. Because why would the already auctioned gov rice from months ago continue to be the same price? And why is Koizumi now looking to bypass the normal sales method with more gov rice?

Its because of a rigged market.

concerns remain about potential bias in outputs and its negative impact on administrative management

Indeed. AI is becoming pretty smart, but the local government officials need to somehow find a way for the AI to give the pointless and illogical answers they essentially seek.

Be careful what you wish for, it might actually come true.

Mighty fine of those that willingly facilitated the return.

Yes, there are some very fine people on both sides.

begin it in 2027 at the earliest

Not much of a sense of urgency to address the low wage issue...

The lack of bins is a rather annoying for residents too.

Not a problem since the lack of children will stop school summer sports from 2050s.

Hopefully they stop giving heaping portions of rice which western customers rarely eat much of anyway (and when they do, they first douse it with a heap of soy sauce).

According to government reasoning, this will apparently take the increased demand off the domestic rice market and the prices for us normal consumers will dramatically fall back to normal.

@garypen

It seems you read that wrong. I said Japan makes some of the best televisions, as in the actual physical TV sets themselves made by Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, etc.

And even though you somehow suggest that "some" content can be pretty good, it would indeed be on a very, very, very rare occasion... so rare that I can't offhand think of any redeeming example.

“It’s so characteristically Japanese," Higuchi said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Indeed it is. Japan produces some of the world's best televisions, along with some of the worst tv content.

And yet, Trump wants Japan to pay the US even more billions to host these guys.

Some people around Trump told him he couldn’t fire Powell. It would be a long-term economic disaster for the US.

Correct in saying "he couldn't fire Powell" but not specifically because it would cause an economic disaster (even though it probably would cause one).

Trump can't fire Powell because the Federal Reserve Bank is an autonomous entity, over which no US President can dictate who runs it (despite the position being nominated by the president, and Powell was initially nominated by Trump himself back in 2018... a.k.a. buyers remorse). The US President has no authority over the Fed or any decisions they make, be it policy or personnel. (and I can't say though whether that is necessarily a good thing, or a bad thing, or a just downright scary thing...)

But if Trump did try to fire him, due to the major precedent it would create if it was indeed possible, it would probably only be decided in a Supreme Court case, even though the SCOTUS already determined that it wasn't possible within the scope of the Fed's independence back in 1935.

There is something really wrong here that no one wants to talk about what is happening to a staple food. 

Yes @Phil, something is going on, and it is almost certainly from intentional manipulation by the Japanese government.

And why are there zero journalists investigating the true root causes to this rice thing that is affecting every citizen and visitor to Japan for the past 9 months, and only getting worse? This would be a major story, but its just silence and re-hashing the same excuses given by the government ad nauseam. Delivery issues... Supply shortages... A 1%-less-than-expected "bad" harvest 2 years ago (which apparently didn't affect supply or price for the majority of last year)... Foreign visitors eating too much?... Oba-chans still hoarding in fear of a tsunami...

I haven't seen a single one of the once ubiquitous 10 kg bags on any store shelf for months at any supermarket, and I live in a major rice producing area that ships their product nationwide. The few farmers I know can't fully explain it, but they now think JA must be somehow be involved with causing this.

A larger volume of imports, however, could depress rice prices and hurt producers' incomes.

I began wondering in the past week with the Japan-US trade negotiations, that perhaps this whole somewhat sudden expensive rice situation here and apparent lack of supply, for which the government has been giving no real justifiable reason, is actually on purpose, and it is being created artificially by the J-government themselves all along.

Indeed, the initial cause last summer from Nankai tsunami scare-buying was probably real, and set it in motion, but as the autumn started, and Trump increasingly looked liked he would win, the Japanese gov't knew from past experience with him that he would demand broad trade concessions if he did become president. So the J-gov kept the rice price inflated via their central control of the market in order for rice to be available as a bargaining chip. (and apparently kept reporters or any media from asking too much or doing any investigating...)

Seriously, if the rice situation in Japan was normal, then the public (and particularly the farmers) would not like this status-quo being negotiated and potentially changed with the US. Why fix it if it ain't broke?

But now that it is seemingly broken, then opening up the rice market more to the US is a multi-win for the J-gov:

-they appease Trump and hopefully help relieve pressure on other export markets to change (like cars, steel, tech, etc),

-they look like they "solved" the problem by getting rice prices down for the public,

-and all along during the price surge they collect huge amounts of extra consumption tax on the expensive rice everyone is forced to buy.

About 30 years ago in a similar incident, Dewi assaulted the granddaughter of the former Philippine President with a champagne glass, which gashed her face and required a few dozen stitches.

@Asiaman7

These hotels have apparently created “a cartel-like situation where they piggyback price hikes off one another.”

The Japan Fair Trade Commission may warn, but it's spineless and will do nothing more than that. Like they are really gonna defend foreign tourists from price gouging?

Just replace the word "hotels" with "rice distributors" to see how effective they are...

WALL-E is real.

Sad.

The spike in rice prices follows a poor harvest in the summer of 2023, as high temperatures reduced the amounts available for distribution the following year.

Yeah, this is the new excuse. Its been given elsewhere in recent days.

Funny how they utterly ignore that this excuse would only be valid for the first 9 months or so of 2024 (back when rice cost way less than half as now), and now that its 2025 it is no longer a valid reason.

How about this: there are lots of people and/or companies clearly colluding to jack the price in there, since someone is obviously earning all this additional money being spent by literally everyone in Japan. So it shouldn't be too hard for the gov't to trace the receipts...

Wow, just imagine the thought of needing to follow the rules of a country or else face the consequences?

"Officially dangerous"... "Trump's America"... the comments have as much hyperbole as the article which asks "What are the risks?" and "Knowing your rights." Every country has immigration rules and laws, which if broken, will result in punishment and/or deportation, along with local customs which if violated can insight the local population. Duh. Yet the article talks about how visa overstays, not having proper documentation, or bringing in undeclared goods could result in punishment... but that such laws are somehow only unique to the US?

Just today, right here on this very same website, is an article called "Long-term detainment of foreigners still an issue after law revision" which, guess what, talks about punishing foreigners for breaking the laws of Japan.

"Be aware that U.S. border officials have broad inspection powers." Yeah, so does every country. Whenever I re-enter Japan I figure I have a 50% chance of getting a slew of questions, particularly at customs who often search my bag while repeatedly asking about drugs and weapons. Most recently, despite my denials, they even wiped down the inside of my bag with a special cloth which would react to the smallest of trace particles for any drugs.

Do I think this is some sort of draconian zenophobic Trump-like violation of my human rights? Well, just yesterday there was an article about the American arrested at Kansai Airport for bringing in a gun. And last week there was a different article about a different American entering Japan who did the very same thing. Anyone want to complain how their rights were somehow broken with getting arrested?

"We pay hundreds of billions of dollars to defend them, but...they don't pay anything," Trump told reporters

Currently, Japan directly pays the US about $1.8 billion per year to "host" US forces stationed in Japan under a 5 year defense deal that started in 2022.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japan-us-military-host-nation-budget-china-north-korea-russia-threats/

"If we're ever attacked, they don't have to do a thing to protect us," he said, sarcastically calling the treaty a "wonderful deal."

This is due to the Article 9 law within the Japanese constitution that renounces war and prohibits foreign military involvement... which was written under the direction of the US while occupying the country for the years after WW2.

Japan does not add fluoride to tap water, hence bad teeth and high IQ.

He threw the bullet in the trash. Should have put the gun in the bin too.

Or better yet, should have thrown it overboard once out at sea.