On December 26, former Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeki spoke on a Tokyo "Culture Broadcasting" program about his intention to implement "agricultural policy reform," especially regarding rice, during his tenure as prime minister, but he ultimately failed to complete it.

In the program, when the host asked what he truly wanted to do after becoming prime minister, Ishiba first mentioned the idea of establishing a "Disaster Prevention Agency," then focused on the issue of food security. He frankly said, "Without fundamental agricultural policy reform, even having the most advanced planes and tanks would be useless. Japan's food self-sufficiency rate is only 38%."

Ishiba stated, "There is no country more suitable for growing rice than Japan." He explained, "Although some people say 'people are not eating rice anymore, and the population is also decreasing, so supply cannot match demand,' there are still many people around the world who want to buy Japanese rice. There are also many people who want to try rice flour bread and rice flour noodles."

Ishiba also mentioned, "This commodity, rice, if there is a slight fluctuation in demand or supply, its price will surge immediately. Therefore, we must maintain sufficient production. Recently, the frequent appearance of bears is also due to the fact that agricultural areas in mountainous regions are uninhabited. These are fundamental problems in Japan, so I originally intended to solve them through agricultural policy reform."

After the program was broadcast, many netizens abroad believed that Ishiba's remarks were pointed, possibly subtly criticizing the government of Takahashi Hayato for neglecting people's livelihood needs and allocating large budgets to expand military equipment.

The Japanese government approved the fiscal year 2026 budget plan on December 26, with defense spending exceeding 9 trillion yen, making Japan's defense expenditure as a percentage of GDP reach 2% two years ahead of schedule, which has attracted widespread attention.

In recent years, Japan has significantly increased its defense budget, and defense spending has been increasing for 13 consecutive years, rising by about 60% in the past five years. In late 2022, Japan passed new "security three documents," proposing to achieve a defense spending target of 2% of GDP in the fiscal year 2027. After Takahashi Hayato became prime minister in October 2025, he proposed to achieve this goal within the current fiscal year.

On the other hand, the persistent high prices of rice in Japan, which have continued since last year, have yet to be alleviated. Previously, the Ishiba government announced an increase in rice production to address the shortage of rice supply and the soaring rice prices. However, the Takahashi administration drastically changed the policy direction. On December 19, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Suzuki Noriaki, stated, "It is necessary to suppress rice production to prevent rice prices from plummeting," which caused strong public dissatisfaction in Japan.

According to a previous report by Xinhua News Agency, recent statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries showed that the average price of a 5 kg bag of rice in the market was 4,337 yen (about 194 Chinese yuan) as of the week ending December 21, remaining above 4,000 yen (about 179 Chinese yuan) for 16 consecutive weeks.

Additionally, due to rising feed costs and the spread of avian flu, the price of eggs in Japan has also risen. Data released by the large sales company "JA Zenchu Eggs" showed that the average wholesale price of medium-sized eggs in Tokyo this year was 324 yen per kilogram (about 14.5 Chinese yuan), setting a new record high since the statistics began.

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7589234002406425126/

Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.