Why are Japanese people no longer interested in rice and gradually switching to bread?

Rice is the traditional food of the Japanese, but in modern society, they tend to turn to more convenient foods such as bread.

Yoshinoya Restaurant in Osaka, Japan is always bustling with customers. Diners flock here in such large numbers that as soon as someone finishes eating and leaves the table, another person steps in to take their place. The main dish that customers order is gyudon (beef on rice) , so the waiters don't have to spend too much time summarizing customers' orders.

A beef bowl here includes beef, seasoned onions, rice, and side dishes like pickled cabbage and miso soup. All for just 632 yen (over 107,000 VND).

Gyudon is a top choice for office workers - those with limited time and budget, even after the Yoshinoya restaurant chain increased the price of its dishes in 2021, they still go for gyudon.

Gyudon is the top choice of office workers.

But there is a reality happening in the land of cherry blossoms: Japanese people are eating less rice than ever. Gyudon is therefore no longer as popular as before.

Purists of the washoku diet (traditional Japanese food culture) have expressed concern about the trend, so not far from the restaurant, people have erected a giant rice grain sculpture to remind people of the country's long history with rice.

The decline of rice in Japan

Dojima was Japan's rice exchange and trading center in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was a time of unprecedented prosperity for brokers. However, the staple food lost its status due to population decline, changing lifestyles, and changing tastes due to the diversity of cuisine.

According to Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, annual national rice consumption peaked in 1962, when the average person consumed 118kg of rice, or more than five bowls of rice a day. By 2020, the average consumption had dropped by more than half to about 51kg. Notably, in 2011, for the first time in history, Japanese households spent more on bread than rice.

The phenomenon of kome banare (saying goodbye to rice) emerged during a period of rapid economic growth, when Japanese people switched to consuming more wheat products, such as bread and pasta.

Japanese people are switching to consuming more wheat products. (Illustration photo).

Why Japanese people "turn their backs" on rice

In the post-war period, families had limited food choices and multi-generational families were still the norm, so rice was still the preferred food. But the rise of the nuclear family (a family consisting of parents and children) and the pressures of life led many people to choose convenience foods over traditional dishes . The typical Japanese breakfast of rice, grilled fish, miso soup and pickles was gradually replaced by simpler dishes such as toast and boiled eggs.

According to a recent survey by rice distributor Makino, 84.8% of respondents said they eat rice every day, but of those, 68.1% only eat rice once a day.

'Eating bread is much more convenient, especially in the morning, ' said Nanami Mochida, a teacher near Tokyo. 'It takes a lot of time to prepare a traditional Japanese breakfast. You need to wash the rice, and then it takes 30 minutes to an hour to cook it in a rice cooker.' 

Japanese people are gradually giving priority to quickly processed foods.

Osaka's Fukushima district used to have more than 50 rice shops, but now there are only five left. ' There are so many choices of food these days that people don't think about rice anymore,' said the owner of one rice shop. 'Even people who like to cook find rice monotonous, with only one way to prepare it. But in fact there are many delicious ways to prepare it.'

'The quality of bread and the number of bakeries are increasing, making it easier to buy bread,'  says Yukari Sakamoto, author of Food Sake Tokyo. ' And rice isn't cheap, so many people choose bread or noodles.'

With consumption declining, producers are turning to overseas markets to tap into the global craze for Japanese food. Japan's rice exports have increased from 4,515 tonnes in 2014 to 22,833 tonnes in 2021, a fivefold increase in seven years, with a third of the output going to Hong Kong, China.

However, exports still account for less than 0.5% of Japan's domestic rice production, so agricultural cooperatives are still encouraging restaurants to serve more donburi (Japanese rice bowl) dishes.

Producers are making efforts to export rice to the world.