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| The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Industries |
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| Current State and History |
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| Lags Significantly Behind in Modernization Due to Overprotective Administrative Measures |
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| Since olden times, the staple diet of the Japanese consisted mainly of rice, seafood, vegetables and legumes. However, with the Westernization of the diet that came along with economic growth, Japanese people have been eating less and less rice and fish after World War II. On the other hand, the consumption of such items as bread, beef and pork has expanded. As a result of this Westernization of the diet, there is now an abnormal situation in which Japan has become virtually completely dependent on food imports from abroad. Exceptions are rice, eggs, vegetables and some fruits. Circumstances are such that the majority of fish and soybeans - some of the chief ingredients of Japanese cuisine - as well as feed for poultry farming must also be imported. In FY2002, Japan' food self-sufficiency rate fell to roughly 40 percent, a level that is lowest among developed nations of the world. |
Rice field in Minamiuonuma City, Niigata Prefecture, that is a chief producing district of Koshihikari, the most popular rice brand in Japan |
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On the supply side, farming households, which had been overprotected by the government, caused Japan to lag significantly behind in terms of the modernization of agriculture. The aging of the farming population and a lack of sufficient numbers of people to succeed them became a serious issue. Japanese consumers were forced to buy rice at a cost that was several times higher than international prices as a result of the government's agricultural policies that pumped massive subsidies to farmers. |
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| The Import of Beef and Oranges Liberalized in 1988 |
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| Meanwhile, demand to open the market intensified both within Japan and from abroad. Among agricultural products, much of the vegetables, fruits and livestock products had been liberalized before the 1980s. However, the import of beef and oranges were not liberalized until 1988, and as for the Japanese staple - rice - there was deep-seated resistance by domestic agricultural organizations. It was not until 1999 that rice was finally liberalized in exchange for the levying of a stiff tariff. |
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| Japan was also once the world's largest fisheries nation. However, with the younger generation shying away from fish, as well as the ban on commercial whaling and other restrictions on fishing activities (including those through the conclusion of fisheries agreements with the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and other neighboring nations), annual fisheries production in Japan, which was at 12 million metric tons in the late 1980s has fallen to below 7 million metric tons recently. Some time has already passed since Japan gave up its position as a world fisheries giant to China. |
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