Shinjiro Koizumi attempts to reform Japan's agriculture

Japan's Agriculture minister, Taku Eto, made a Marie Antoinette-level serious gaffe. At a time of empty rice shelves in some locations, shortages in others, and record prices (that doubled in a year to even $29 for 5 kg in a Tokyo supermarket) he said that he never buys rice because he has so much presented to him by his supporters.

- SUNIL CHACKO

Japan's Agriculture minister, Taku Eto, made a Marie Antoinette-level serious gaffe. At a time of empty rice shelves in some locations, shortages in others, and record prices (that doubled in a year to even $29 for 5 kg in a Tokyo supermarket) he said that he never buys rice because he has so much presented to him by his supporters. After the uproar, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba asked for Mr. Eto's resignation. To replace him, the PM has selected the telegenic Shinjiro Koizumi, scion of the political dynasty of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. A fellow alumnus of Columbia University, Shinjiro Koizumi is a masterful campaigner and in the Lower House of Parliament election campaign last October he was campaign chair for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), crisscrossing the country while broadcasting on social media his daily lunch taken while on the move, and other new populist methods of attracting viral media attention.

Shinjiro Koizumi's more serious side is a track record as a parliamentarian of working assiduously to reform the rigid and resistant-to-change agricultural system. Potential agricultural reform would also engender regional revitalization that is particularly important as Japan's rural population sharply declines with even entire villages no longer in existence. Already, aging farmers, uncertain weather, panic hoarding by consumers and speculative activity by traders have impacted rice supply and prices.