The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
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The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
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Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#2Life on an island...
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#3It's an interesting experience seeing some shelves in 7-11 here in Tokyo partly empty due to this shortage -- outside of perishable goods like onigiri, it's pretty uncommon to see something like potato chips missing on a shelf. I wonder how long it'll take for the shortage to end, and if they'll be able to mitigate it by importing. One thing it doesn't mention in this article is that companies are pretty strict about quality of their imported goods like potatoes in Japan, probably due to the restrictions by the government, and are known for being hesitant about US potato quality, for example.
For those interested in more information about the shortage, here's an analysis from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service: https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Potat...
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#4Life on an island...
Life on an island with a historically strict protectionist food policy. There is no potato shortage, per se (per the article, I'm surely no expert). There's a shortage of potatoes from Hokkaido, and domestic consumers aren't prepared for (or allowed to) buy them from an international market.
Japan isn't the only nation to do this, of course. But they're one of the worst.
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#5I was thinking, "this is ridiculous; why can't they just import more potatoes?" and then I found this:
"She also cited regulatory hurdles, which limit the amount of imported potatoes that can be used in products, as partly responsible for the shortage."
No, it is primarily responsible for the shortage.
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#6Life on an island...
Life on an island with a historically strict protectionist food policy. There is no potato shortage, per se (per the article, I'm surely no expert). There's a shortage of potatoes from Hokkaido, and domestic consumers aren't prepared for (or allowed to) buy them from an international market. Japan isn't the only nation to do this, of course. But they're one of the worst.
Agreed; you can also see the recent butter shortages in Japan for an example of the same issue.
As for why that happens; the farmers are (were?) a huge political ally for the LDP. (The TPP was going to be a huge change for that, but alas, it won't be happening..)
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#7Maybe we don't want potato chips anymore.
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#8Agriculture in Japan is very under-developed. You add the import restrictions and it leads to produce being twice as expensive (if not more) than most western countries. It also means lack of variety. And organic products are rare. Shortages are a thing bound to happen.
I was hoping for TPP to be accepted, but now I am just going to leave the country.
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#9I was thinking, "this is ridiculous; why can't they just import more potatoes?" and then I found this: "She also cited regulatory hurdles, which limit the amount of imported potatoes that can be used in products, as partly responsible for the shortage." No, it is primarily responsible for the shortage.
Regulatory hurdles in the import/export market are like a person trapped in a sphere at sea. Even when you run out of drinking water inside the sphere, you still don't want the sphere to let in saltwater. It's all water but you shouldn't drink it. Your position makes sense where the sphere is floating in clean fresh drinking water. However, like an ocean is much larger than a lake, there is much more toxic crap on the market for import than there is good. Strong standards with proactive, responsive agencies make for the best public protections in imperfect markets. Whether or not this is caused by a failure there is a good question.
Re: The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis
#10It's an interesting experience seeing some shelves in 7-11 here in Tokyo partly empty due to this shortage -- outside of perishable goods like onigiri, it's pretty uncommon to see something like potato chips missing on a shelf. I wonder how long it'll take for the shortage to end, and if they'll be able to mitigate it by importing. One thing it doesn't mention in this article is that companies are pretty strict about…
Are US potatoes really lower quality than Japanese ones?