ABSTRACT
STEVEN J. ERICSON
Japonica, Indica: Rice and Foreign Trade in Meiji Japan
This article examines the largely unexplored topic of Japan’s foreign trade in rice during the Meiji period. In the middle decades of that era, japonica-type rice from Japan became a major export, highly esteemed in Western countries. In the 1890s, however, Western markets for Japanese rice shrank as the price of the grain rose; meanwhile, crop failures in Japan, combined with the ready availability of cheaper, long-grain indica varieties from Southeast Asia, prompted huge imports of rice; and the steady increase in per capita consumption drove Japan to become a chronic net importer of the commodity after the turn of the century.
Volume 41, Number 2 (Summer 2015)
© 2015 Society for Japanese Studies