April 1st, the start of the new fiscal year in Japan, marks the day when a number of changes come into effect. Unchanged for 30 years, the price of milk will see an increase, as will the price of many other food commodities, including beer, shoyu (soy sauce) and cooking oil [ja], not to mention more luxurious items like ice cream [ja]. With changes also in Japan's health care system and (at least momentarily) the end of the country's provisional gasoline tax, there is no lack of uncertainty regarding the upcoming transition in the economy. A recent survey nonetheless showed that while Japanese feel that a hike in food prices will cause great problems, if the hike is for the sake of food safety, then they consider it “unavoidable”.
The provisional gasoline tax in Japan will lose effect as of tomorrow and it seems that gasoline prices will start to fall. Meanwhile, as a result of influences such as the high price of crude oil and abnormal weather conditions: “from April the rush in food price hikes will pick up momentum”. It has been reported everywhere in the media that, effective starting in April, there will be a rise in the price of familiar food items such as those that are made from wheat, for instance beer and bread. Against the backdrop of a sudden hike in the price of feed, the price of milk, referred to as the “model student of commodity prices”, will also increase.
It would seem that the cause of the sudden rise in food prices has been shortages resulting from excessive consumption of materials for biomass fuel such as corn, as well as a turn among investors, due to sub-prime mortgage problems, toward soya bean and wheat-related [crops]. However you look at it though, it is a sure thing that a situation is approaching which will be particularly exacting for the average household.
Will the April of dread arrive at last !? I wish it was just an “April Fools!”, but Prime Minister Fukuda's “sorry” will not settle it. An era has come in which citizens have to seriously think about life defense measures.
While some bloggers have suggested the solution to the food crisis in Japan is to grow one's own food, many others have taken the move of stocking up early [ja], a plan that blogger hanamaru2224 considers:
Seems that from tomorrow, the prices of milk and shoyu (soy sauce), of wheat products, and most of all beer will increase, so should we stock up?
Can't stock up on milk though (^^;)
In a post entitled “March 31st, change”, blogger psw_fragile reflects on all the transitions in Japan, including a change in the font size of newspapers to accommodate an aging population and the yearly April rush of new graduates into the work force:
Today is March 31st.
Tomorrow is April, and we change to the new fiscal year.
In this new fiscal year of 2008, it seems like we are entering a year in which changes will be felt that are unlike anything that has come before.
The sudden price hike in crude oil will all of a sudden increase the price of food commodities.
The price of gasoline will also suddenly go up.
And then, from today, the font size of newspapers is also changing, there are lots of new employees, lots of stickers for new car drivers…
Among all the countries of the world, Japan's food self-sufficiency ratio is the lowest of all advanced nations.
Australia is 237%, Canada 145%, USA 128%, France 122%, Germany 84%, England 70%, Italy 62%, Switzerland 49%, South Korea 47%, Japan 39%.
With the exception, among grains, of rice, for which self-sufficiency is 100% (and even here, this [industry] is also on the brink of collapse), [Japan] depends on imports for the majority [of its food intake].
Above all, we are importing 96% of corn from a certain country, do you know which one?
Right, the United States, the country where everyone is all excited about the bioethanol boom.
There are more and more farmers who are switching to planting corn, and the production of soya beans and wheat are decreasing.
Furthermore, with the increasing influence of expanding demand in China, where there is considerable growth with the Beijing Olympics bubble (LOL), and the decrease in wheat production in Australia as a result of the Big Dry, the market price of corn and soya beans has jumped in 3 years to 2.5 times its original price, while wheat has jumped to 3 times its original price.
As a country with a low degree of self-sufficiency, this is why Japan is taking such a beating from the sudden hike in grain prices and difficulties with supply.
In order to increase Japan's 39% self-sufficiency rate, Japan's agriculture and fishing [industries] need to brace themselves for reform, but there is also a need for understanding on the part of consumers. The sudden hike in prices acts as a tailwind for changing people's awareness about what foods they can safely eat.
How far will the money of rich capital speculators, racing around the world in the direction of further increases in profits, go in selling off “bonds and securities, including subprime [mortgages]”? Then the focus of speculation turned to crude oil and gold, and to the wheat that goes into food, resulting in rises in the price of wheat and related food commodities, of gasoline, and of lamp oil, and doing great harm to the lives of common people.
The age in which we were able to get our food from overseas just by having money will soon be a thing of the past.
Japan's food situation, just convenience, and lots of waste.
The inefficiency of having to rely on cheap ingredients and labor from overseas, and of throwing away so much.
Economic principles are important, but the time has come that we need to reevaluate them.