2011/09/10

The Rice Harvest

Freshly harvested rice is in the stores now in Japan. Prices increase the farther away the source of the rice is from the ruins of Fukushima Daiichi. According to the government, all these are safe to consume, but the government has let the market speak.


From Ito Yokado grocery chain in Narita:
10 kg of rice from Mie (near Nagoya): 4490 yen
10 kg of rice from Chiba (near Tokyo): 3490 yen
10 kg of rice from Ibaraki (directly south of Fukushima Prefecture): 2490 yen
10 kg of rice from Fukushima: not available


And yet no one has much confidence that the labeling is honest. Assuming it is honest most of the time, it's obvious that low income people will be left to eat the most contaminated food.

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