Japanese minister resigns after saying he doesn’t buy rice because he gets it free
Japan’s agriculture minister has resigned after saying he never buys rice because he gets it free, a remark that drew public fury in a country facing soaring food prices.
Taku Etō’s resignation has added to pressure on the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, whose failure to rein in soaring rice prices and address a wider cost of living crisis has angered voters ahead of upper house elections in July.
“Just now I submitted my resignation to prime minister Ishiba,” Etō told reporters at the prime minister’s office.
Etō had faced calls for his resignation after claiming that he never had to buy rice, relying instead on gifts from supporters.
Etō had initially sympathised with the “hardship” felt by consumers after the government released about 300,000 tons of rice from emergency stockpiles earlier this year in the hope of bringing down prices. But speaking at a fundraiser last weekend, Etō said he had “never bought rice myself because my supporters donate so much to me that I can practically sell it”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/21/japan-farm-minister-resigns-rice-priceOpen linkView original on lemmy.sdf.org
Shame culture vs guilt culture
Such a cool word,
gro-ce-reesPeople who bought things in bulk (also known as buying in gross) to subdivide and sell in smaller portions, became known as grossers, and eventually grocers. Eventually, the word "grocery" came to mean the actual goods sold by grocers.
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/grocery-store-word-origin
It's old-fashioned.
It's computer 😎
Meanwhile in the states, MAGAs thank their Party for robbing them. #SAD
Interesting that nearly all the press in the thumbnail are holding phones. Or maybe I've just never seen people surrounded by press this decade.
I feel like I've mostly seen small clip-on mics in the US, though probably still plugged into phones. Wired more often than wireless. Even taped to podiums. Definitely not as many of the big mics with channel billboards.
Many of what I see in the photo are field audio recorders, though phones are for sure in use there as well.
Free rice, not ok Free jumbo jets, all good
An educated populace that values propriety and honor, understands how to identify corruption and hold its leaders to account: Japan
A system that has systematically devalued education at every opportunity, run by seditious con-men, nazis, and apocalyptic cultists: USA
So nice to see politicians that immediately resign when doing dumb shit. I know some other countries that could use some of that
Looking at you, German Ministers of Transport. To be fair, along the major fuckups they do their job to siphon off as much money as possible to build roads in bavaria.
And it's not like we need more roads, we already have more than enough. We actually need better alternatives instead of depending solely on cars
for reference: the least populated part of germany has enough density that you could just run bus lines on the main roads and most people would be pretty reasonably served, have these buses run every 15 minutes and there's very very little reason for anyone in any part of the country to own a car.
those who live in bumfuck nowhere can just go rent a car when they need it.
"Let them eat rice cakes"
Even if you eat rice for every meal and are feeding a family, that's got to be what, $250 a year?
It's more of a "Minister of agriculture doesn't even know price of rice yet takes decisions for it." It is bad when you think about it.
But damn he actually resigned. People criticized him and he took responsibility. Damn you Japan for giving me politician dysmorphia.
Also after reading the article apparently his wife buys the rice lmao.
Lmfao at the last bit