Customers eating cooked California-grown Calrose rice and side dishes at Shokudou Arata, a restaurant in Tokyo. — Reuters
WHEN a severe rice shortage sent prices skyrocketing in Japan last year, Tokyo restaurant owner Arata Hirano did what had once seemed unthinkable: he switched to an American variety.
The price of the Californian Calrose rice he buys has doubled since his first purchase last summer, but even so it’s far cheaper than home-grown grains.
