TOKYO: Japan will set up a minister-level meeting as early as this week to address the supply of rice, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in parliament on Monday (June 2), as the government seeks to stabilise the price of the nation’s staple grain and quell public anger ahead of a summer election.
The government released a further 300,000 metric tonnes of stockpiled rice last week in a bid to bring down prices, which have doubled in the past year. The move came as households struggle with inflation less than two months before an upper house election that could punish a minority government already on the back foot after an underwhelming performance in last year’s general vote.
