Rice Spending Tops Bread for First Time in 12 Years Amid High Prices

A government household survey shows rice purchases overtook bread for the first time in 12 years, a small change at the table that captures how high prices are rewriting consumption. Bread relies on imported wheat, so wheat costs plus a weak yen lifted its price, while rice, mostly home-grown, stayed relatively stable, nudging budget-conscious households toward rice, a textbook case of behavior shifting with relative prices. For Taiwan readers it offers two lessons: how inflation works through substitution as buyers switch to cheaper alternatives, applicable to any market under price pressure; and as a demand signal for Japan's food, retail and farm policy, since reviving rice demand can affect prices, stocks and policy. This turn at the dinner table is a useful read on the temperature of Japan's everyday economy.