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

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/06/24/japan/japan-rice-price-falls-below-4000/

48•PaulHoule•4h ago

Comments

jmpman•2h ago

I can buy rice at Costco in the US for $25 for 50lbs, which is equivalent to 854 yen for 5KG. A bit less than 1/4 the cost of Japanese grown rice.

apeescape•1h ago

Isn't Japanese rice pretty different to Costco rice? Genuine question.

Izikiel43•1h ago

Japanese rice variety I think is called Japonica. I'm not sure if costco sells it.

theultdev•42m ago

haven't seen japonica often in the US, but jasmine rice is similar and available pretty much everywhere.

in fact, jasmine rice smells and tastes better, and stickier!

socalgal2•37m ago

maybe I mis-understood what you meant by similar here but jasmine rice is nothing at all like japanese rice.

Jasmine top, Japanese bottom

https://postimg.cc/6y2b0JdB

They have a completely different consistency when cooked and are used for different things.

theultdev•33m ago

yes in fact, it is. relative to american rice.

it's has a similar stickiness, the taste is a bit different, but better imo.

it pairs well with asian dishes as opposed to american rices and can be used for sushi.

it's not 1:1, but it's certainly a good substitute when you can find japanese rice.

socalgal2•31m ago

Jasmine rice can NOT be used for sushi! It's not sticky enough to hold together. The fact that it's not sticky makes it good for fried rice, not for sushi.

theultdev•26m ago

hmm, well the jasmine I buy is extra sticky.

maybe it's how it turns out in the rice cooker.

either way, I've done it and it tastes good /shrug

daedrdev•32m ago

Calrose, the primary rice grown in California is a Japonica, its just Japanese rice grown in America. Tamanishiki, which is one of the high grade sushi rices is grown in the US and Japan

It is O. s. subsp. japonica

naniwaduni•12m ago

Costco sells a couple of Kokuho-brand Calrose varieties, which are decent drop-ins for for generic East Asian rice.

treefarmer•1h ago

Yeah, as someone who started with Costco rice and slowly moved up the quality chain, there is a clear difference in taste between even average Japanese rice and most Costco rice. It would be interesting to see a price/quality comparison between the U.S. and Japanese Costcos though.

makeitdouble•59m ago

This is one of these case where cross-country comparison might bring little relevant information.

Another example could be wine sold at US Cosco vs French Costco. It would be an indicator of something, but I'd personally be lost if I had to interpret it in regards to wine trends in France in general.

SpecialistK•1h ago

I can't remember how much I paid, but I was able to buy 10KG of grown-in-Japan short grain rice at Costco in Canada within the last year.

numpad0•22m ago

Speculating from online comments around it and from looking at bags of Calrose rice, they seem to be few decades behind in cultivation techniques and selective breeding improvements. The grains look smaller, less shiny and more yellowy. but technically they should be of the same strain.

ericd•9m ago

Costco sells a few varieties, this is the one we buy: https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/kokuho-rose-us-%231-e...

It's sushi rice, grown in CA, and it's very good. Same stuff we used to buy from our local Japanese grocery store in CA.

tsukikage•1h ago

Cheapest rice I can easily get here in the UK, equivalent to ~1600JPY/5kg: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/314300009

Cheapest rice I am actually willing to eat, ~3000JPY/5kg: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/293247162

Shortgrain rice, such as Japanese rice, tends to be even more expensive than that.

That said, no idea where whatever it is the article is quoting the price of falls on that scale.

Aeolun•1h ago

You can buy the same rice in Japan if you are really desperate.

I think they’re deliberately talking only about rice people actually want to buy.

PaulHoule•54m ago

People who eat mostly rice are picky about the rice they eat.

Golden Rice 2 was on the market for about five years in the Philippines before it got banned. If anybody had wanted to grow it or eat it it could have been a different story. I was talking to a genetic engineer a few weeks ago who said that the sensory qualities weren't that great. Nothing would have stopped advocates in the US from planting a few acres and selling bags of it (it's approved and all) but had they done so it would have put the lie to the idea that the developers were being persecuted like Prometheus. I don't think it was anywhere near the threat that its opponents said it was but it was nowhere near the boon that its promoters said it was.

daedrdev•33m ago

Japan has very high rice tariffs to protect its domestic rice production. It is not peoples choice, it is not available at a cheaper price.

jmpman•21m ago

I found a TikTok which showed rice in a Japanese Costco. A calrose variety American grown rice (Legrande Family rice) in the Japanese Costco was 2998 yen for 5KG. Must be tariffs causing the price to be so high.

makeitdouble•1h ago

That's the perfect setting for the "Mom can we have X ? No, we have X at home" meme.

Otherwise USA rice is imported in Japan, as well as other countries' and is indeed way cheaper, but not desirable and people aren't literally starving either.

daedrdev•58m ago

California does make good rice. Japan is just hyper protectionist with extremely high import taxes on rice. They don't get imported because of this tax. The US produces both lower quality and high quality rice, as you might expect of an enormous country that exports half its rice. This is why prices remain high. Do you think someone who is poor would not buy cheaper rice that had 90% the quality if they could?

In fact the US produces plenty of Japanese rice (Japonica)

theultdev•52m ago

not the same species!

american white rice is only good when it's transformed into spanish rice, fried rice or creamy rice.

otherwise it's too bland because it's stripped. brown rice is better but still not as good.

both japonica and jasmine rice are good on their own.

love jasmine rice over all of them, it makes your mouth water when you cook it.

edit: who downvotes a comment about rice? lol.

daedrdev•34m ago

Premium Tamanishiki (a type of premium sushi rice) is grown in the US and Japan, the US just produces a lot of types of rice. Japonica is a category of rice that includes Calrose for example which is grown primarily in California and is definitely an "American" rice given that it founded the California rice industry

tomcam•51m ago

Can someone tell me why a statement of fact is being downvoted? I am genuinely puzzled.

y-curious•23m ago

Because the poster's tone implies that American Calrose rice is inedible vs the superior Japanese rice. That's simply not true, and a bit reductionist.

abtinf•51m ago

For everyone else assuming Costco rice is low quality, they offer multiple options.

Costco’s basmati rice is excellent quality and can be ordered online 20lb for $27 delivered.

So that’s only about double the unit price for top end, premium rice.

numpad0•38m ago

Rice in Japan is indeed weirdly expensive in the first place. Typical price is ~1 USD/lbs, but there's been a mysterious shortage and they're retailing at double the regular price.

The minister of agriculture right now, Shinjiro Koizumi, is the son of Jun-ichiro Koizumi with now-unpopular legacy of deregulating and wrecking the Japanese postal service among few other government functions. The minister is now advocating for deregulating rice anyhow in response to the ongoing situation, and the situation kind of stinks.

Sorry that it's probably not the kind of content appropriate at HN anyway. It's more of "uncovering Cold War history podcast" style of content except it's in live.

daedrdev•29m ago

The previous minister was fired after they admitted they didn't have to experience the expensive rice because they were given free rice by farms in Japan

0cf8612b2e1e•14m ago

That is some bizarre obliviousness of privilege. I thought all of the more-equal-animals knew to keep quiet on the implicit bribes and other luxuries of their station.

mc3301•8m ago

It's rather quite the opposite in Japan. The "more-equal-animals" consistently make public completely oblivious remarks, only to apologize the following day and then (often) just go back to business as usual.

dluan•11m ago

The Japanese yearn for return to feudal rice tithing.

bravesoul2•32m ago

Nice. What is the average supermarket price for the equivalent rice in US.

NaOH•1h ago

Why are rice prices still high? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44126639 - May 2025 (16 comments)

Japan plans to sell rice from emergency stockpiles to cut prices - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42915690 - Feb 2025 (11 comments)

Why has Japan been hit with rice shortages despite normal crops? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41366304 - Aug 2024 (179 comments)

bbarnett•1h ago

Arsenic in rice is on the rise. There is a chart in this article, on how to reduce that.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-find-new-way-of-cooking-...

opan•1h ago

>The PBA method involves parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining and refreshing the water, then cooking it on a lower heat to absorb all the water.

numpad0•51m ago

That method is for long-grain rice used in other parts of Asia, simply unfit for Japanese rice(or vice versa). It's just their highly British form of humor and customary jest.

I'd suggest Brits ban full leaved teas in favor of microwaved teabags while at it.

haunter•30m ago

Calrose is perfectly fine if you are looking for japanese grown rice replacement in the US. Same 'Oryza sativa subsp. japonica', just a different cultivar. It's the closest thing to Koshihikari but cheaper and widely available. Actually I'd say it's the best overall rice you can get not grown in Japan.

Good side by side https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Koshihik...

The "problem" is that you won't find rice like Yumepirika, Akitakomachi, Tsuyahime, or Nanatsuboshi (just a few example of my favorites) anywhere outside of Japan. Even Italy has japonica rice fields but it's a different class all together.

daedrdev•18m ago

Ive seen US grown hitomebore and koshihikari, the koshihikari even under the same brand as the Japaneses rice just with a product of USA label

dluan•30m ago

This has been a fun/interesting ordeal to watch from far away, though I think people in Japan are feeling a lot of pain right now.

In Hawaii we get a lot of imported Japanese rice mainly due to prevalence of Japanese daily groceries here. The typical grocery store (eg donki) carries more than a few strains of rice - koshihikari, hitomebore, nanatsuboshi, hatsushimo, etc. These make a noticeable difference for your spam musubi's, but especially for sushi. We usually rotate between whatever's the cheapest Japanese imported rice, around $30-40 for ~15lbs, but I would say most people here eat Japanese rice.

At the start of the War on Trade, we noticed marginal price increases on Japanese rice, but especially noticed steep discounts on California calrose, like $15 for 25lbs, which to me felt insane. The local specialty rice store just had to issue a price increase notice last week (https://the-rice-factory-honolulu.square.site), though this seems like it's more the rice shortage than tariffs.

Thoughts and prayers though to the Japanese who will have to eat South Korean rice, once the national reserve stock dwindles. Hope they make it through this struggle period.

daedrdev•20m ago

Some ammounts of hitomebore and koshihikari are produced in the US, I noticed that in Hmart you see product of USA under the same brand as the Japanese rice sometimes (especially recently) Calrose is a japonica rice though obviously produced mainly in California

ggm•27m ago

Some amount of price control makes sense for strategic defensive reasons: Japan isn't self sufficient in food but like many other economies wants to ensure a viable farming sector.

I'm not sure this amount of price control is needed for that outcome. From TV I get the impression Japanese rice production is pretty intensive, but also small plot focussed so not as efficient as Australia where it's miles and miles of field to the horizon.

Maybe Japanese rice farmers are a protected species?

kondro•22m ago

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.

daedrdev•19m ago

Japan forces this to be the case with extremely high tariffs on rice imports. It's not that they won't consider it, they literally can't.

balanced2•13m ago

I see cal-rose for shy above 3000 yen. While I didn't grasp the details, I saw a news report which made it seems they've set up a quota (xx tons or something) of rice to be imported with almost no tariffs.

balanced2•15m ago

From what I've seen at the supermarket, cal-rose, rice from California does sell out and get restocked with reasonable quantity. While I can't be sure it's "average Japanese people" buying it I see no reason to believe otherwise. It's been shown on TV a few times too, the sure-fire average marketing in Japan.

mc3301•12m ago

Honestly, I think the average Japanese person wouldn't care that much after they tried it a few times. Especially upon noting the significant monthly savings. There's almost no imported rice even available here, and the propaganda of the superiority of domestic rice is quite powerful.

Hasnep•7m ago

> the average Japanese eats around 1kg of uncooked rice per week.

That's gonna be crunchy

fennecbutt•17m ago

Asianometry did a great video on some of the reasons for this https://youtube.com/watch?v=l4vTQV3HjKU

xnx•13m ago

$2.50/lb. in American

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