
The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis - vezycash
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-14/the-great-japan-potato-chip-crisis-panic-buying-12-bags
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yladiz
It'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...](https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Potatoes%20and%20Potato%20Products%20Annual_Tokyo_Japan_10-4-2016.pdf)

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JohnJamesRambo
Are US potatoes really lower quality than Japanese ones?

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yladiz
I doubt it, especially since you can generally get a much wider range of
varieties of potatoes in the US than in Japan, not just organic/non-organic,
but different colored potatoes as well. My guess is that the rhetoric coming
from the companies that US potato quality is lower is more due to the
government being protectionist about national agriculture.

It's also probably due to the mentality that producers want specific kinds of
potatoes for specific purposes and maybe only trust Japanese farmers to make
the specific kind of potatoes the way they want them.

~~~
hkmurakami
I remember seeing a "food security" campaign where demonstraters wanted the
country to achieve 100% food sufficiency as a national security prerogative.

Wasn't sure if it was a strange form of nationalism, or a veiled lobbying
effort by an interest group (the abundance of very small scale farmers across
the countryside)

~~~
qubex
Clearly they've failed at achieving ”food security” if the local demand for
potatoes has outstripped local supply.

The apparent bias against resorting to importation also seems to indicate it
is largely thinly-veiled protectionism and political cultivation of special
interests.

Furthermore however intuitive it may seem it runs contrary to hundreds of
years of economic orthodoxy, known as Ricardo's Comparative Advantage.

~~~
mywittyname
It depends on what you mean by security. They may not be insulated from large-
scale crop failures, but they are insulated from heavily-subsidized foreign
companies dumping products on their market in a bid to undercut domestic
prices and eliminate local producers as competitors.

As with most things, it comes down to a trade-off: increased risk of
disruptions from ecological events in return for a decreased risk from
geopolitical situations. One is not inherently better than the other, but
Japan has a preference for self-sufficiency as much as possible.

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seunosewa
I 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.

~~~
emodendroket
If, as your post seems to be recommending, such regulations were abolished,
Japanese farmers would pretty much cease to exist because of their inability
to compete with cheaper imports. Maybe you consider that an unacceptable
tradeoff for some potato chip shortages but it's not clear that the Japanese
share your sense of priorities.

~~~
zeroer
I guess as a democratic state they can decide to restrict imports. But then
don't ask anybody to give two shits that that there's a shortage.

~~~
emodendroket
I don't think Japan is appealing for international sympathy for its potato
chip shortage, man.

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zeroer
Point taken

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emmelaich
It still amazes me that potatoes and tomatoes, originally South America only,
have become a food staple in just about every country since.

~~~
mc32
Well, there is also:

    
    
      Rice --domesticated in China
      Corn --Mexico
      Wheat --Middle east
    

These are now pretty universal and are more important than either Tomatoes or
Potatoes.

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michaelvoz
Fertile Crescent* not Middle East. The Middle East is not really an agreed
upon fixed set of places, theres a not-insigifnicant variance in how one can
describe it.

~~~
jpatokal
True but irrelevant, as I've yet to see a definition of either that did not
include Mesopotamia/Iraq.

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CaliforniaKarl
I like this part the best:

> Twitter users sent encouraging tweets to Calbee, which apologized for the
> crunch via its official Twitter account.

Props to Japanese for being encouraging, instead of negative!

(And yes, I realize n=1, etc. etc.)

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nmerouze
Agriculture 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.

~~~
nemasu
Most western countries? I find the produce, especially if it's in season, is
much cheaper than the produce in Canada, and it's fresher too. Food in the
United States is ridiculously inexpensive.

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arkades
Price of fresh produce in the US varies depending on where you are. In many
places, using the phrase "ridiculously inexpensive" would get you laughed at
and/or castigated.

That said, fresh produce in the US sucks. Every European country I've visited
has had notably better produce. I had a garden salad in Italy that actually
made me pause and go, "Oh, these aren't supposed to be a form of self-
flagellation in the name of health. These is actually delicious food." I
rarely have that experience with US produce.

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Safety1stClyde
I've just been to Don Quixote and while there weren't that many bags of
crisps, they hadn't completely run out of them.

They also had bags of potatoes for sale.

Lots of jagariko and other things which are made from potato powder, which I
assume is allowed to be imported.

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cyphar
Can someone explain to me why Japan has an agriculture industry to begin with
(though I assume the answer is WW2)? They have an incredibly high population
density and are an incredibly small country -- why on earth would you want to
waste land on farming? And more importantly, why would you be protectionist
about that industry when it will be responsible for land shortages? Import
economies are not a bad thing. In fact they are the reason the export
economies can work at all.

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hokkos
Why wouldn't you have an agriculture industry ? This is the most vital
industry, moreover on a island, when you are next to China, and that country
want to assert dominance on the seas. Imagine how would survive the country if
China start a blockade without a minimal agriculture at subsistence level.

~~~
cyphar
Then trade with countries other than China (there are plenty of other
countries in and near Asia -- such as Australia which has a very large
agricultural industry due to having so much land)? Don't get me wrong, there
are certain parts of agriculture (fishing for example) that make sense for a
country like Japan, but considering how much land is required to grow crops
sustainably it doesn't make sense (at least to me) to make your agriculture
industry an important part of your protectionist rhetoric.

~~~
Arizhel
The OP specifically cited a Chinese blockade in his post. How are those other
countries going to get your food to you when China is actively blocking them?
They'll have to start a shooting war, and in the meantime your people are
suddenly starving to death.

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pgnas
Looking at the dictionary definition of "crisis" I would not call this a "time
of intense difficulty or threat of danger or a time when "important decisions
must be made"unless the that decision.

There are plenty of real crisis around the world, right? The Japanese should
be more concerned about how a certain area _ahem_ Fukushima, is still killing
our ocean.

That is a crisis.

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faragon
TL;DR: protectionism/nationalism 101: shortage because of not willing to
import potatoes.

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kalleboo
When I saw this in the news I assumed it was a PR stunt. I haven't noticed
chips being sold out in my corner of Japan, and anywhere they are it could
just as well be because people saw "oh chips are being sold out, I should get
some".

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rlkf
This reminds me of the Norwegian Butter Crisis of 2011, although that one was
caused by a demand-side shock from low-carb diet fads.

Our condolances to the Japanese people; our hearts are with you.

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memracom
Life on an island...

~~~
ajross
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.

~~~
coldtea
> _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._

Yeah, if only they gave up their autonomy and local agriculture to have more
access to chips from abroad.

~~~
iopq
Why is local agriculture more important than local customers?

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Larrikin
The idea from what I gather is that the country is capable of supporting
itself, and did for centuries, and shouldn't let industries wither and die for
short term profit that would kill off industries that allow that ability of
self support.

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tzakrajs
Yesterday, I was in several FamilyMart and 7i locations in Tokyo, there were
lots of potato chips.

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tzakrajs
I picked the wrong time to visit :X between North Korea and the potato
shortage, this could be rough. :D

~~~
tzakrajs
I was just in some FamilyMarts locations and can tell you there is no sign of
a potato shortage in Tokyo.

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ginko
So THAT'S why there were no potato chips at Family Mart yesterday.

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dcow
The Japanese potato-chip famine?

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anon263626
Plenty in America. In fact, take most of ours and save us from some diabetes.

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blitmap
Maybe we don't want potato chips anymore.

[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-
east-39613313](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39613313)

