Japanese consumers have historically steered clear of foreign rice. But facing high prices, they rushed last week to buy the first South Korean imports to Japan in decades, clearing the shelves within days, South Korean officials said.
It was a relatively small amount, a little over two tons, compared with Japan’s overall shortage, but it was a big change from the country’s last rice crisis, in 1993. Then, rice imported from places like Thailand, a top rice exporter, languished unsold in stores.
“Japanese rice itself is so delicious that people haven’t had the confidence to eat foreign rice,” said Park Jaehyun, a South Korean rice sommelier who is certified in Japan. “Now they know: The quality of rice is also quite good in South Korea.”
Because of Japan’s 200,000-ton shortage of rice, its staple grain, the government has tapped its emergency reserves. Still, prices have remained high, double last year’s.
That has spread appreciation for a variety of foreign rice. South Korea’s National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, which exported the rice, said it had not sold rice to Japan for at least 35 years.