Japanese prime minister (PM) Shigeru Ishiba thinks consumption tax on food should not be lowered, against the wishes of political dissenters, in spite of rice prices spiking tremendously over the last year. The Japanese government has been intervening more and more in farming, releasing stockpiled rice and legally demanding farmers behave according to their directives.
At a press conference on April 1, Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba expressed disapproval about lowering the consumption tax on food, according to local media. The country’s residents are currently buckling under the heavy weight of food prices — especially that of rice — and rampant inflation. The price of the nation’s staple grain has doubled year-on-year, a spike not seen since relevant records started in 1971.
Political dissenters to Ishiba’s nonchalance, like the Secretary-General for the LDP in the House of Councillors, Masashi Matsuyama, say that something should be done. At the conference, Matsuyama emphasized (translated): “It is also necessary to seriously discuss measures to combat rising prices, including food, and to firmly implement policies that are close to the people.”
Ishiba issues new laws governing Japan’s farmers amid so-called rice shortage
While Ishiba takes the same non-committal position on inflation as he does Bitcoin and crypto, Japan’s farmers and consumers have no choice but to take the economic punch in the gut. The Japanese state has been releasing government-stockpiled rice as of late to help ease the price spike, but not everyone expects a change.
With Japanese markets anticipating the impact of massive tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump on the auto industry, Ishiba’s currently low approval rating could signal that his praise of Trump and a pervading “America first” mentality is out of touch with residents of the archipelago. Last year, Ishiba’s Minister of Digital Transformation (DX) said he wants to “closely follow” Musk’s D.O.G.E agency for ideas.
Regional media has claimed the rice shortages may be a result of overtourism and an unusually hot summer in 2023. However, farmers protesting in Tokyo on Sunday also pointed to government policy, which subsidizes them to grow less of the crop in order to guarantee price stability. This bears a haunting similarity to Great Depression era practices of destroying oranges and livestock in America, while people starved, for similar justifications.
Further, a new law going into effect in Japan will now dictate directly to farmers how they must run their operations. The law goes into effect on April 1, Tuesday (JST) and failure to adhere to state directives will be legally punishable. According to the Mainichi: “The government can order farmers and food-related businesses to draw up and submit plans to boost production, increase imports or raise the volume of output sent to market.”
Matsuyama maintained at the press conference with Ishiba that “Measures to combat rising prices, especially for food, are extremely important.”
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