Photo/Illutration Bags of newly harvested rice at a supermarket in Tokyo's Adachi Ward on Oct. 29. Some are priced at more than 5,000 yen ($32.40) per 5 kilograms, including tax. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

In 1994, the year I began working as a cub reporter, I wrote numerous articles about rice thieves.

In typical cases, rice farmers would wake up to find the brown rice stored in their sheds completely gone. What brazen scoundrels they were.

Looking back, it was a year when Japanese society was enveloped in a heavy, somber mood. A poor harvest the previous year had led to long lines of people across the country seeking domestically grown rice. The social phenomenon came to be known as the “Heisei no kome sodo” (Heisei Era rice riots).

The economic downturn was also deepening, fanning strong winds of discontent and unease. That year’s “New Words and Buzzwords Awards” reflected the bleak mood, with the phrase “shushoku hyogaki” (employment ice age) receiving the special jury prize for coinage.

The spirit of the time was humorously captured in one of the Salaryman Senryu competition’s winning entries—short, satirical verses that reflect the lives and laments of ordinary people.

“The rice shop can’t line up its 'shinmai' (a word meaning both ‘new rice’ and ‘new employee’)/ just like our company.” Signed: A perpetual underling.

The commotion over the rice shortage in the first half of this year recalls the crisis surrounding that staple three decades ago.

The phrase “kokokomai” was even nominated for the buzzword of the year award, and understandably so. It literally translates to “old, old, old rice” and refers to rice harvested three years earlier, each use of “old” signifying the passage of one year.

Perhaps it was precisely this situation that prompted the government to reverse decades of policy aimed at reducing rice output and instead encourage greater production a few months ago.

However, the new administration under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi quickly reverted to the old course.

It has also decided to scrap the ruling party’s proposal, announced during the July Upper House election campaign, to provide 20,000 yen ($130) per person in cash handouts to cushion the impact of rising prices.

Instead, the government now says it will offer financial support to local governments for distributing rice vouchers.

Some rice traders forecast that prices will fall over the next three months, yet in stores, 5 kilograms of new rice still sells for more than 4,000 yen.

So whose policy—or outlook—are we supposed to trust? With such ever-shifting “cat’s-eye agricultural policies,” both producers and consumers are left confused and frustrated.

Another Salaryman Senryu poem from the time of the previous rice crisis went like this: “Yet again/ short of 'yome,' 'yume,' 'kome' (a wife, dreams and rice).” Signed: A farming village youth.

Meanwhile, the challenges facing rural communities have grown far more complex and serious than they were 30 years ago. What will Japan’s rice-farming landscape look like 30 years from now? The sense of unease only deepens.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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