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Price of rice in Japan falls below ¥4k per 5kg

(www.japantimes.co.jp)
126 points PaulHoule | 5 comments | 30 Jun 25 19:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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kondro ◴[30 Jun 25 23:41 UTC] No.44429105[source]▶
The fact the average Japanese person won't even consider trying imported Japonica rice from Australia or USA is madness if budget is a consideration.

But as someone who's tried many varieties of Japonica, there is a difference between the best Japan-grown rice and non-speciality rice grown elsewhere, as well as a difference between fresh (Japanese enjoy eating new rice, which is different from many rice-eating cultures) and old rice.

I pay somewhere around AUD$14/kg for Japanese rice in Australia, but I also don't eat it that often and I'm not that price sensitive.

But also, the average Japanese eats around 1kg of uncooked rice per week. That's ¥800 at the rates in the article (~USD$300/year). Japan's cost of living is generally pretty low, but I doubt +/- $100/year is effecting many people.

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1. decimalenough ◴[01 Jul 25 03:55 UTC] No.44430442[source]▶
Fun fact: in feudal Japan, taxes and income were measured in koku of rice (approx 150 kg), which is roughly how much a person needed to sustain themselves for a year. The little plastic cup that comes with your rice cooker measures one gō, which is 1/1000th of a koku.
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2. IAmBroom ◴[01 Jul 25 13:17 UTC] No.44433618[source]▶
Interesting. I am assuming that is nominally "one ordinary peasant's rice consumption", not "enough rice to live on". One gō appears to be about 5 ounces/150 grams, and that is about 550 calories, or 25% of a nominal daily calorie need. One can quibble with the exact numbers - smaller stature Japanese feudal peasants, but heavier physical demands, etc.

It works out to 25% of the calorie need, ironically close to the amount supplied by beer in an estimate of a European medieval monastery.

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3. reverendsteveii ◴[01 Jul 25 15:04 UTC] No.44434628[source]▶
it's reasonable to assume that this represents the amount of rice japan should allocate per-peasant in a functioning economy with other food sources. it would be meaningless and absurd to develop a standard for the amount of rice one would need in a year if and only if rice was the sole food source in their universe. In fact I'd be willing to bet there's no amount of rice that would keep a person alive for a year if that's all they ate.
4. hyghjiyhu ◴[01 Jul 25 16:10 UTC] No.44435351[source]▶
Divided by 1000, not 365. So they eat just shy of 3 such portions a day.
5. Nasrudith ◴[01 Jul 25 16:26 UTC] No.44435526[source]▶
Well Japanese peasants were also encouraged to live off of 'lesser' grains like millet, barley, and wheat. Let alone the other nutritionally imporant but non calorically-dense supplements like vegetables.