[Pitarou]

> Nobody that I know of complains about about the agricultural system here (granted, I live in a farming community :-) ).

I did (granted, I have a background in Economics).

Tell a Japanese how much a tin of tomatoes costs in Japan compared to the US or the EU, or a mango, or even a packet of generic acetaminophen (paracetamol) for that matter.

Now ask them why. Nine times out of ten, they’ll say something about the Japanese culture of quality and attention to detail. To be fair, Japan often does demand higher standards, but that’s not nearly enough to explain the full price discrepancy.

They don‘t complain because they don‘t know what’s going on.

[mikekchar]

The answer to the question why is quite obvious from where I stand: Farmers get paid more because of the protectionist policy of the government. The distribution system also prioritises local food over imported food. They also spend money on things like being able to trace exactly where the food comes from. When my neighbour takes his rice to the JA, I can buy it at the local supermarket the next day. His name is on the bag.

The government also disallows the sale of farming land. This ensures that you don't have a few mega operations taking over all of the farm land. If you want to start farming in Japan, you will have no problem because land is available. If you want to start farming in the UK? Good luck unless you have millions of pounds to get started. Even then you probably won't be able to get any land.

In order to ensure that the land is in productive use, land owners get government subsidies when it is. Again, this ensures that land is available for farming.

Compare the amount of money that Japanese farmers get for their produce to US or European farmers. Compare the markup that US and European distributors charge to that of the JA. If you think Japanese farmers don't know what's going on, I think you are very much mistaken.

[Pitarou]

I was talking about ignorance among the consumers, not the producers. The farmers certainly know which side their bread is buttered on!