Japan suffering food shortages
Updated
Political wrangling is heating up in Japan over a proposed government aid package to help ordinary people struggling to cope with rising food and petrol prices.
Japan relies heavily on imports, and expensive commodity prices are more of a concern there, than in many other developed countries. In bilateral talks with Australia earlier this month, Tokyo asked Canberra to guarantee continuous supplies of key food imports, but at the same time refused to negotiate on removing extensive tariffs and quotas on the same products. The talks highlighted the tightrope Tokyo's trying to walk between managing food prices and protecting small farmers.
Presenter: Jonathan Gadir
Speakers: Tobias Harris, author of Japan politics blog observingjapan.com; Ken Worsley, Tokyo-based economic analyst
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