The rice prices in Japan had risen for over 10 weeks as of Monday, nearly doubling that of the same period last year, forcing many citizens to eat less rice or even seek alternatives. The average retail price of rice in Japan rose again in the week leading up to May 11, reaching 4,268 yen (about 29.5 U.S. dollars) per 5 kilograms, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said on Monday. This marks an increase of 54 yen from the previous week, reversing a brief decline after 18 consecutive weeks of price hikes. Compared to the same period last year, rice prices remain nearly twice as high, the data showed. As part of efforts to ease the price increase, the government has started to release its reserve rice to the market since March. While the government plans to release 100,000 tons per month between May and July, the outlook remains uncertain on whether this will lead to a drop in retail prices, Nikkei reported. Shotlist: Tokyo, Japan - May 19, 2025: 1. Various of people in supermarket; goods for sale; 2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) resident (name not given): "For ordinary people, it's unbearable. The price has already doubled."; 3. Various of sushi for sale; 4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) resident (name not given) (starting with shot 3/partially overlaid with shot 5): "The rice price hike is really troublesome. Rice is something we eat every day. People can't do without rice. So food price hikes are the the biggest headache. I haven't been able to eat rice every day over the past month, just twice or three times a week. Maybe around three times a week. I used to eat rice more often, but now it's definitely less."; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 5. Various of bags of rice for sale, price tags; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 6. Bags of rice for sale; 7. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) resident (name not given) (partially overlaid with shot 8): "Prices are soaring now, so are the rice prices. So we try to buy where it sells cheaper. We don't buy rice that frequently, but if the rice price exceeds 4,000 yen (about 27.7 U.S. dollars) per 5 kilo, it's really expensive. I hope rice prices can return to the way they were before, which is around 2,000 to 3,000 yen (about 13.8 to 20.8 U.S. dollars) per 5 kilo."; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 8. Various of bags of rice for sale, price tags; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 9. Bags of rice for sale, price tags. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]