Economics and Politics of Rice Policy in Japan: A Perspective on the Uruguay Round

This paper reviews the recent problems of the opening of Japan's rice market and evaluates the Japanese government's rice policy from both an economic and political viewpoint. The Japanese government made strenuous resistance to the opening of Japan's rice market during the negotiations on agricultural trade at the GATT Uruguay Round. Eventually Japan's rice was made exempt from tariffication by compensating in the form of increased 'minimum access' import quotas. However, the tariffication rule of the final agreement guarantees that importing countries can impose considerably high tariffs. Thus, the volume of Japan's rice imports could be decreased if the Japanese government accepted the tariffication agreement. In retrospect the decisions made by the Japanese government have effectively protected the vested interests of the domestic rice distribution system, while hindering the structural improvement of the Japanese rice industry.