Warmer ocean temperatures around Hokkaido have led to a sharp decline in autumn salmon populations, significantly tightening supply and pushing prices for the fish and its roe to record highs. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/20/japan/hokkaido-autumn-salmon/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #hokkaido #fish #food #supermarkets
The average price of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets across Japan in the week through Sunday fell ¥6 from the previous week to ¥4,205 per 5 kilograms, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/10/japan/rice-price-fall/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #rice #shinjirokoizumi #agriculture #supermarkets
An agitated bear roamed the aisles of a supermarket in central Japan, injuring two men and frightening shoppers, while separately a man was found dead in a suspected mauling. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/08/japan/bear-attack-in-supermarket/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #bears #iwate #gifu #gunma #supermarkets
"While the supermarket cartel is absolutely part of the problem, National's 'work programme' is basically 'hope a third party joins the oligopoly and gets in on the gouging'. So they have no real solutions there. And they're certainly not going to do what is necessary: legislate to forcibly break up the cartel and forbid mergers in the sector or its underlying logistics to prevent such accumulation of market power."
@norightturnnz, 2025
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2025/07/willis-says-let-them-eat-butter.html