Mumbai, August 30: Japanese supermarkets have reportedly run out of their rice stock, making it the first time since 1999 that Japan witnessed a rice shortage. This shortage is due to the Japanese panic buying and stock-piling rice due to continuous threats and warnings to prepare for the natural disasters it has faced recently. Calling the rice shortage the "Reiwa Rice Crisis" after the current imperial era of Japan, the images of empty supermarket shelves have flooded the internet.

After a major earthquake of 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Japan, warnings for a further "megaquake" and a series of typhoons, including Typhoon Shanshan, Japanese households are ensuring they do not run out of their staple rice. Store owners, amidst this rice crisis, put up signs asking customers to limit the purchase of rice to one bag of rice in one day per family. As per an India Today report, Japan's Farm Minister Tetsushi Sakamoto advised the citizens not to panic-buy rice and to stay calm as the shortage would soon be resolved. Japan To Launch Dating App To Boost Birth Rate; Check Details.

Rice Shortage in Supermarkets in Japan 

However, Japan's rice yield has significantly reduced this year, and harvests have been lower than usual due to various climatic factors like rising temperature, water shortage and increasing pressure from the higher influx of tourists. However, the Japanese government has assured that there will be no national shortage since the stocks will return to normal next month with the 2024 harvest. Claiming that the inventory is sufficient, a farm official told AFP, "A new harvesting season has started with 40 per cent of the crop available by the end of September." Typhoon Shanshan Hits Japan: 3 Dead As Torrential Rains Batter Asian Country After Typhoon Makes Landfall Near Satsumasendai, Storm Moves North (Watch Videos).

The panic buying has caused a sense of unease and anxiety around, as Tokyo resident Mito Mitsue told ABC that she searched at four supermarkets for rice but did not find it anywhere. She added, "The shelves of rice in supermarkets are empty." Social studies expert at the Kanda University of International Studies, Jeffrey Hall, said it was a common practice for the Japanese people to rush to buy bread, rice or bottled water whenever wild weather alerts were issued at short notice. Blaming social media for exaggerating the rice crisis, he told ABC, "Twitter users sharing photos of empty supermarket shelves cause other users to rush to their own supermarkets to buy staples such as rice or water before they run out."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 30, 2024 07:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).