Japan's rice prices have continued to rise since last summer and the recent figure nearly doubled compared with the same period last year despite the government's moves to release reserve rice. In a large supermarket in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture, shelves are filled with more than 10 brands of rice. Each pack of five-kilogram rice is priced between 4,300 yen and 4,800 yen (about 29.64 and 33.09 U.S. dollars). Although the government has continuously released hundreds of thousands of tons of reserve rice over the past few months to stabilize the crop's prices, the supermarket sees no sale of reserve rice, let alone a drop in prices. The supermarket's manager Masuda Katsumi said that they will have to raise rice prices again in the near future because the purchase price is still on the rise. "The price of rice has doubled compared to last year. As the purchase price of our supermarket has been rising, the sales price in the store has to rise accordingly," he said. Many consumers, most the elderly, checked the price tags of rice, but few bought it. Consumers said that the rising rice prices have significantly increased their financial burden. They said a few days ago, they heard that reserve rice was released, and the price was only around 2,000 yen, so they came here for several days in a row, hoping to buy the low-priced rice. Unexpectedly, the rice prices have gone higher and higher day by day. "We have been waiting for the reserve rice and hope it can be delivered to us soon. Because rice is too expensive, we have to reduce the number of side dishes," said a consumer. "Rice is really expensive. When I bought it before, the price was only half of what it is now. I really hope it can return to the level of about 2,000 yen. I have elementary- and middle-school-aged children. Their appetites are getting bigger and bigger, so they eat more and more. I hope rice prices can return to the previous level and stabilize," said another consumer. In order to stabilize rice prices, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has already released 310,000 tons of reserve rice in three batches, and the second round of 300,000 tons of reserve rice is also being gradually released to the market. However, Katsumi said low-priced rice still seems a bit far away in the supermarket. "There is no 2,000-yen reserve rice yet, but it is expected to be available between mid- to late June. We receive calls from customers every day, or people come right to the store to ask when the reserve rice will arrive. The key is the supply of reserve rice. If there is fair enough reserve rice, the overall rice price may drop, but this depends on the supply of reserve rice," he said. SHOTLIST: Shizuoka, Japan - June 4, 2025 1. Various of rice for sale in supermarket; 2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masuda Katsumi, supermarket manager (starting with shot 1): "The price of rice has doubled compared to last year. As the purchase price of our supermarket has been rising, the sales price in the store has to rise accordingly."; 3. Various of consumers shopping for rice; 4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) consumer (name not given) (partially overlaid with shot 5): "We have been waiting for the reserve rice and hope it can be delivered to us soon. Because the rice is too expensive now, we have to reduce the number of side dishes."; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 5. Consumer shopping for rice; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) consumer (name not given) (partially overlaid with shot 7): "Rice is really expensive. When I bought it before, the price was only half of what it is now. I really hope it can return to the level of about 2,000 yen. I have elementary- and middle-school-aged children. Their appetites are getting bigger and bigger, so they eat more and more. I hope rice prices can return to the previous level and stabilize."; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 7. Various of consumers shopping for rice; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 8. Various of rice for sale; 9. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masuda Katsumi, supermarket manager (partially overlaid with shot 10): "There is no 2,000-yen reserve rice yet, but it is expected to be available between mid- to late June. We receive calls from customers every day, or people come right to the store to ask when the reserve rice will arrive. The key is the supply of reserve rice. If there is fair enough reserve rice, the overall rice price may drop, but this depends on the supply of reserve rice."; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 10. Various of rice for sale; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 11. Consumers at cashier. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]