Rice production in Japan
Encyclopedia
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, with rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
being a staple part of the Japanese diet
Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...
.
The most striking feature of Japanese agriculture however is the shortage of farmland. The 4.63 million hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s under cultivation in 2008 has shrunk, with most farmers over 65
Elderly people in Japan
This article focuses on the situation of elderly people in Japan and the recent changes in society.Japan's population is aging . During the 1950s, the percentage of the population in the sixty-five-and-over group remained steady at around 5%. Throughout subsequent decades, however, that age group...
.
However, the land is intensively cultivated. Paddy field
Paddy field
A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...
s occupy much of the countryside, whether on the alluvial plains, the terraced slopes, or the swampland and coastal bays. Nonrice farmland share the terraces and lower slopes and are planted with wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
in the autumn and with sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
es, vegetables, and dry rice in the summer. Intercropping is common: such crops are alternated with bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s and pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s.
The History of rice and rice agriculture in the Japanese archipelago is not a long one. According to the accepted view, rice was introduced into Japan during the period between the Final Jomon and the Early Yayoi Period
Yayoi period
The is an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to 300 AD. It is named after the neighbourhood of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts and features from that era. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new...
. But recent phytolith
Phytolith
Some plants can take up silica in the soil, whereupon it is deposited within different intracellular and extracellular structures of the plant. After these plants decay, silica is redeposited in the soil in the form of phytoliths , which are rigid, microscopic structures of varying sizes and shapes...
studies indicate that rice may have been in Japan as early as the Early Jomon, approximately 6000 years ago(Takamiya, 2001). Rice occupies an emotional place in Japanese history, society, and political economy (Hsu, 1994).
Rice production is important to the food supply, with rice being a staple part of the Japanese diet. Japan is the ninth largest producer of rice in the world in rice production. The rice seasons in Northern Japan last from May–June to September–October. In central Japan, it is from April–May to August–October. In southern Japan the rice season is form April -May to August–September. About 85% of the 2.3 million farms in Japan plant rice yearly. Improved varieties of japonica rice are grown in almost all prefecture
Prefecture
A prefecture is an administrative jurisdiction or subdivision in any of various countries and within some international church structures, and in antiquity a Roman district governed by an appointed prefect.-Antiquity:...
s in the country. The most widely planted variety is Koshihikari. Onigiri
Onigiri
, also known as or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori . Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume , salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative...
rice balls are popular http://www.fao.org/rice2004/en/p8.htm.
The average rice field acreage of a Japanese farmer is very small and rice production is highly mechanized
Mechanized
Mechanized refers to the use of machines. Related articles:*Mechanised agriculture*Mechanization* For "Mechanized artillery", see Self-propelled artillery* For "Mechanized force" and "Mechanized warfare", see Armoured warfare*Mechanized infantry...
. Due to small farms, rice production is considered a part time occupation by many farmers. The number of Japanese farm households and farm population has declined in recent decades. Rice production has also declined. The decline came about because in 1969, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has asked farmers to reduce rice acreage; under the Staple Food Control Act of 1942 the Japanese government is formally in charge of all rice production, distribution, and sales (Hsu, 2001).
Since the postwar Land Reform (1945–1949), Japanese farms have remained fragmented and small. To prevent the reconsolidation of farmland, joint-stock companies cannot own farmland; agricultural cooperatives can own farmland only if they do the actual farming. Currently the average rice farmer works only 1.65 acres(whereas the typical American farm is 160 times larger) (Hsu, 1994).
As part of the government’s control of rice, rice import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
s are banned except in processed forms. Also, because of the disproportionate political power wielded by farmers, rice production is subsidized by the government. This aggravated trade frictions between Japan and the United States. Tokyo’s rationale for the ban is that self-sufficiency
Self-sufficiency
Self-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of personal or collective autonomy...
in rice is important for food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
purposes. In addition domestic farm groups have long maintained that rice cultivation is part of Japanese culture. Hayami (1988) argued that Japanese consumers have become more tolerant of high rice prices because their food expenditure as a ratio of total expenditure has declined as their incomes rise(Hsu, 1994). Surprisingly, consumer groups have not actively supported the lifting of the ban in order to reduce the rice price. The main reason is reportedly the Japanese consumers’ demand for “high-quality” rice. Surveys do indicate that consumers believe that foreign rice tastes bad.
In the Uruguay Round
Uruguay Round
The Uruguay Round was the 8th round of Multilateral trade negotiations conducted within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , spanning from 1986-1994 and embracing 123 countries as “contracting parties”. The Round transformed the GATT into the World Trade Organization...
of GATT (General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade) negotiations in 1990, Japan refused to give concessions in eliminating its ban on rice imports. It was estimated that without the ban, U.S. rice exports to Japan could have amounted to $656 million a year (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 1, 1991). As of 2010 free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
in connection with the Trans-Pacific Partnership is again being debated in Japan.http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20101117a2.html