[emodendroket]

There are a lot of subsidies for Japanese rice growers too but I think this is primarily because without them they would not be competitive with American imports.

[jmadsen]

hmmm...yes to the first part, but the rice grown in NA is of a different variety they don't particularly like here.

[emodendroket]

Japan is currently the #2 market for US rice (or it was 5 years ago, anyway): http://westernfarmpress.com/rice/demand-us-rice-increasing-j...

Also, the issue of US rice exports was one of the biggest stumbling blocks for US-Japanese TPP negotiations, so I don't think Japanese rice producers believe Japanese people will not eat medium-grain rice.