The quest for grain stability in Japan and South Korea | CNA Correspondent podcast
You’re listening to a CNA podcast. [Music] When my father was growing up as a child, he lived in a village in East Malaysia where he was one of 10 siblings. And in those days, every grain of rice was precious. Not a single kernel lingered in the bowl after a meal. When my brother and I were raised in Canada, there were lots of grains left. Rice was plentiful, and we did not consider it as valuable as my father had. In South Korea and Japan, there are also two mindsets when it comes to rice. Scarcity and abundance. I’m Theresa Tang. This episode, we focus on the humble grain that has been a household staple for thousands of years. Lim Suk joins me from South Korea and Mitio Ishida from Japan. These two rice growing nations are facing very different challenges today. Good morning, Yunsuk and Mitchio. So happy to see you both again. Good morning. Good to see you, too. Good morning, Teresa. My father to this day, he says he cannot live without his rice. I love it too. And if I go too long without eating it, a voice inside me goes, “Okay, something is not right here. I have to have some rice.” How about you two? Well, I think it’s the same for me too, you know, and I also remember my parents telling me how important rice was, you know, how a bowl of rice every day would be very important for Koreans. And in fact, we have a term here called papim, the power of rice or the strength of rice. And they would say that you would need a bowl of rice to get you through the day. Even my mom, she’s 93 years now, and even today, she’s telling me that you need to eat rice. It’s rice that will get you through this hot weather and through all your work and everything you need to do. And you know, she’ll tell me stories about how scarce rice was at that time. And not everyone in her family would be able to eat rice when she was growing up. But my mom and my dad, they would always tell me that the Koreans were able to get through this difficult period because of rice. And I would say I like noodles more than I like rice. But then growing up and being a bit older now, I think I do miss rice, especially when I go overseas. And it is something that Koreans just cannot live without. In my case, I grew up disliking in particular Japanese rice, Japanese food in general. I just couldn’t handle the soy sauce, the salty ingredients that came, you know, with rice. It didn’t suit my taste and I preferred the typical American food because I was raised in New York. But what was contradictory was, you know, I liked rice when it was served at my Colombian friend’s home. But now I’m fully grown. My taste buds has changed. I love Japanese branded rice. Branded rice. And to go with Japanese rice now, I enjoy typical Japanese food. Sashimi, natto, raw egg on top of rice with a bit of soy sauce. So you talk about how your taste has changed and you know consumption habits have changed, right? There is the anti-carb movement. So many more options out there when it comes to what we put on our plates. So I’m curious, how important is rice in South Korea and in Japan today? Yunsuk. Well, you know, for Korea, it is very important. You know, even if the eating habits have changed and people are cutting carbs now for healthy reasons, because rice in Korea isn’t really just about rice as a food, but it’s really also tied to history, South Korea’s identity, and even politics. You know, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule for 35 years from 1910. And during that time, a lot of the rice here, historians say, was sent back to Japan too for its own people. And Japan had control over the rice production here in South Korea when it was occupying Korea. And so after Korea gained independence, Korea was finally able to take control of its own rice supply. And that Koreans was very important. And so even now when Koreans meet, you know, the first thing that they ask each other, the way that they greet each other is, “Have you eaten? Did you eat rice?” So, it’s really like the baseline of a meal here in Korea. So, you know, while many people, especially the younger ones, are eating less carbs, eating less rice, I think, you know, rice still feels like a real meal to Koreans. And in fact, you know, if you have Korean friends, and you too, Mishu, I’m sure you’ve noticed where Koreans would go out for a burger or even to a big barbecue, and they would eat all that meat, but at the end of that barbecue or that meal, a lot of Koreans would then order rice because they just feel that that that they haven’t eaten anything. They haven’t done something correct. And so, you know, to to a lot of Koreans, even today, yes, if you go out, they would end that meal that they had with a bowl of rice. Traditionally, the emperor is supposed to be the first to plant rice seedling and the first to harvest rice that year and he’s the divine symbol. And for the general public in the old days, hundreds of years ago, rice was equivalent to wealth. For instance, today’s Ishikawa prefecture along the Sea of Japan, it’s converted rice to cash and rice supported the local economy. And as to general consumption of rice, the peak was in 1962. A person consumed on the average 118.3 kilograms of rice. Yeah, exact number here. And today it’s half to 50 kilograms. And the main reason is set to be due to the fall of population and also about the Japanese choosing bread and noodles over rice. Still, according to Japan’s Consumers Cooperative Union, 95.2% of households consume rice at least once a day, and 80% suggested the frequency of rice consumption has not changed despite the recent rice price hike. South Korea’s agricultural and farming techniques have really kept up with the times. And so, we’ve seen rice itself has also improved, for example, with high yield varieties that are available now. and the country has really moved towards self-sufficiency, but there’s too much of a good thing. I learned from your report that rice consumption is at an all-time low in South Korea. So, let’s talk about this over supply problem. Where did it come from? How did the country get here? Oh, it’s a big headache right now. And you’re right. I mean, after the Korean War in 1953, you know, South Korea developed rapidly and it came to what it is today. But it also realized that the country must never be in a state where they are in a short supply of rice. And so the Korean governments made huge efforts to boost rice production. And there was this push this great push for self-sufficiency also. And then with the help of high yield varieties, modern farming techniques, South Korea achieved what it want to do with its rice production and had supply enough for everyone every year. But now there’s just simply much more rise than what’s needed. In the beginning, South Korea had that because it was worried there might be another conflict or there might be a natural disaster. But South Korea just realizes now that it just has too much rice and that not many people are eating it. Now the per capita rice consumption here in Korea has been falling for years with the diets diversifying and lifestyle changes too, especially among the younger generations. And so in the past, you know, our parents would be eating three meals a day and that’s three rice bowls every day. Now many people don’t even eat one bowl of rice every day. And you know, instead many of them are going for bread, pasta, and other food, and there are just so many other choices out there. So what used to be a success story for South Korea is now a headache for the Korean government. And you know, I traveled to Chaon in the north and all the way down to Henna. And I visited the warehouses at storage facilities and they’re just so much rice sacks. They’re all piled over each other. And these rice sacks, these rice supplies are they’re just kept for about an average of 3 years with the government releasing some of them during times when there’s a shortage of rice. And some of them are really just practically given away to lowincome families. So there is an over supply. Farmers here are angry and you see them out in the streets protesting and their argument is that South Korea apart from this over supply over production. What South Korea the problem is is that South Korea needs to import rice too. And the farmers argue that it’s this import that’s hurting the prices and the farmer’s income. Now this is what Kuwang, one of the farmers who took part in that protest said about the over supply and why farmers are finding it very difficult to make a proper income. Every year we import about 13% of our domestic rice production. In terms of volume, that’s around 48,000 tons required under World Trade Organization agreements. That’s why farmers are protesting. They are demanding that the government guarantee the price of rice and stop importing it. And things could not be more different over in Japan where you are Mitchio where there is an under supply of the grain. Some retailers there, they’re limiting the number of bags people can buy. Prices have gone up. I saw a report saying in some cases 90% higher than they were a year ago, which is incredible. And officials have tapped into emergency reserves. So what has happened? Okay. Well, the price of rice really depends on the region you live, but basically you go to supermarkets to retailers, you find a lot of empty shelves. And I have great difficulty finding my favorite brand these days. And also, a year ago, I purchased 5 kg of Japanese branded rice for about 3,000 yen. That’s about $20. This year, retailers in my neighborhood in Tokyo sell for close to 5,000 yen or about $35. Last summer, the government said that there was no shortage of rice and then suddenly there was this mega quake warning. Panic buying took place worsening the situation. An agriculture analyst told me that rice prices doubled since last year on the average due to heat wave two years ago impacting the quality of rice. So much of them were not good enough for human consumption. So a shortage happened and also a spike of inbound tourists eating up rice and but the core cause is due to the government enforcing the so-called rice acorage policy for 50 long years. Many farms started to reduce rice growing and replace their fields to grow other products such as barley, wheat, vegetables and many patty fields were also closed with no one taking over. For one thing, due to the aging in a population and rice farmers find growing rice not profitable and given the amount of investment on tractors and other machineries, it’s not cost effective. But Dr. Kazuhito Yamashta of Canon Institute for Global Studies has an idea which he said is receiving support from local economists. Poor time farmers would be richer that by by uh accumulating uh more and more land so they could improve the efficiency of the of the rice product. But it is not easy to implement in the Japanese politics because we have to we have to face the very powerful politically powerful agriculture cooperatives. Now what farmers have to say? Well farmers basically need to be a member of the agricultural cooperatives. Traditionally they deliver their rice to their local cooperatives, receive payment which is usually fixed and after that the system of distribution is not straightforward. It’s not clear which perplexes farmers themselves and that’s exactly the view of 88year-old farmer Kunihiro Hawa. I learned recently there are many vendors in between. It’s become complicated with middlemen as if it were a period when we had a black market following World War II. Yansuk, those who sell rice, they’re not happy because when there’s an abundance, prices go down, of course. So, what are those in the business doing to deal with this over supply issue? You know, are they trying to make use of rice in other ways? Maybe pivot to growing other types of crops on their land. What are they doing? Well, at the moment, I think the system sounds very similar to what Micho just said. And I think the South Korean government is realizing that they do need to come up with other options. And so, yes, the government is trying to get more South Korean companies to put more of this rice products out there. I don’t know if you’ve seen them, but those already made rice, which Koreans even eat at home if they don’t want to cook at home, right? and especially when they go overseas and we do carry a lot of them and many companies are also exporting them and then there’s also many of the bakeries here are turning to rice bread and we also have rice beer rice noodles and so the government is trying to promote rice and many companies are trying to follow the guidelines because they do realize that South Korea right now has this over abundance over supply of rice but at the same time South Korean government is trying to get many of the farmers to switch to other products like soybeans, wheat, other vegetables and the government is offering subsidies. But it’s not easy for everyone. You know, I met a young farmer in Henam down in the south who is doing this and he is growing beans, but you know, he’s young. He’s in his 30s and he’s willing to try out different things, but most of the farmers now are elderly farmers and it is very difficult for them to switch. And many of them also say that the crops are not suitable for all the fields. For example, in the north Kaiwan province where Chaan is located, apparently there was a lot of work put in for decades to make it most suitable for rice production. And so right now they’re not suitable for other crops and it would be very costly to change. And also many of them would be intensive labor and for many of the elderly farmers, they just don’t have that intensive labor mind right now to be able to change and switch to crops. So a lot of farmers are still sticking to rice because it’s really what they know and the system now is built around that. Um but perhaps you know many farmers are hoping that like Japan there might be other countries out there who might be willing um to try Korean rice and import Korean rice too. So let’s hear what one farmer in Char said to me. The domestic rice price now might even be worse than it was 20 years ago. So personally I think we could grow varieties suitable for people in Southeast Asia or Europe and export them. It’s something I’ve thought about because honestly it’s frustrating. And he was saying and many other farmers were saying you know how K-pop and Kdramas are popular overseas. They’re just hoping that perhaps K rice will be also be able to be picked up overseas too. Yeah. It’s all about the branding. Yeah. Teresa, if I may just add one thing, you know, about Korea wanting to export more rice to Japan. I live close to Korean town and I see a lot of Korean rice, but you know, if it’s eating with kimui and the Korean style, it’s great. But a lot of, you know, the stuff that we eat in Japan, for instance, sashimi, you know, the fish, it doesn’t suit any kind of rice. And you know the kind of rice Japan grows is like different kinds of rice all over Japan too depending on what kind of rice you prefer. Yes. And for instance, I recently tried California rice. Okay. But I’m sure there’s a lot of different types of California rice, but the particular type that’s imported Japan, it’s a bit plumpier. You know, it’s fluffy compared to the Japanese grains. And I tried to have sashimi with it just recently. It didn’t work. And I said, “Okay, Japanese rice is double the price of California rice currently, but I’ll just have to go back to Japanese rice.” There’s no substitute for that certain type of grain, right, when you’re looking for it. We’ve been talking about rice, but this is not just a rice story. It’s also about supply chains, about politics as well. Mitchio, what do officials think is the solution to this instability in Japan? And I’m wondering if the problem isn’t properly addressed, how are ordinary people, you know, like you, how are you going to be affected beyond your rice bowl? Based on analysts response, the simple answer is to end the rice acreage policy completely. It was supposed to have ended officially in 2017, but in reality, I’ve been told it’s continuing due to pressure from farmers because they received lots of subsidies and the political pressure. Let’s say the farmers influence policies of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. But the rice shortage and highly priced rice are matters the party cannot quickly solve. And farmers themselves say they cannot expand farming areas easily if they’re told to, you know, reverse that system of acreage policy. What used to be a patty field needs several years to be revived. And there’s falling number of farmers. The farm sector does not accept anyone new. You have to be a farmer, experienced farmers and non-farmers cannot purchase rice fields for instance. And when I was in the rice growing area of Hugo Prefecture, I was shown around that many homes standing around the patty fields were deserted. There were lots of aka empty homes. You’ve heard about that. And the key could also be to totally reform the farming sector. But can it be done with lots of resistance? And also there’s concern about crops this year. heat waves started already in June. Usually the hottest time of the year in Japan is August and I think Korea is also experiencing heat waves. What that might do to crops that is really worrying. It’s incredible to think that rice has become a luxury item of sorts in a place like Japan. And I can only imagine the dinner conversations Japanese and South Korean people are having over this issue. Mitchio Yunuk, thank you so much for this. Thank you. Thank you, Jerusa. Well, you can find Mitchio and Yunuk’s stories on YouTube and also on CNA.asia. And don’t forget the TV episode of CNA Correspondent airs every Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. Singapore Hong Kong time. I’m Theresa Tang. The team behind this episode is Saiya Win, Clara Ang, Tiffany, Junani, Johari, Pingho, and Craig Dale. Thanks very much for your company.
The price of rice in Japan has more than doubled since 2024, while in neighbouring South Korea the grain is practically being given away for free. Teresa Tang speaks to correspondents Michiyo Ishida and Lim Yun Suk about what’s behind the disparity.
00:00 Intro
03:04 Importance of rice in Japan and South Korea
06:00 Rice oversupply in South Korea
09:15 Rice shortage in Japan
12:27 Pivoting to other types of crops
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