barriers erected
Rice, a Japanese staple food, was scarce following the end of World War II. But as agricultural advances boosted global harvests, Japan erected barriers to protect its farmers.
Until the Uruguay round of trade talks under the WTO's predecessor GATT, the Japanese government had repeatedly vowed that "not even a single grain of rice will be imported."
By the close of the round in 1993, however, Japan had agreed to open the door to a minimum amount of imports.
Now, it is under pressure to make further concessions in the WTO talks on agricultural trade.
Major food-exporting countries, led by the US, want a drastic cut in the number of "sensitive products" with special protection, as well as the introduction of caps on import tariffs, in the US proposal at 75 percent.
zero imports
Under the principle of zero rice imports, the Japanese government controlled production and prices of rice for decades, pressing farmers to reduce planting areas to bring national production down in line with falling consumption.
As a result, many small-sized farmers survived alongside a smaller group of large producers.
In the late 1990s, the government turned toward market-oriented rice production policy, sending prices into a steady decline.
Now it is trying to limit subsidies to large farmers only.
For those who have toiled away in the paddies all their life, as their ancestors did before them, more is at stake than just economics.
"Most of the local festivals and events are rooted in rice cultivation, and if small-sized farming is destroyed, so are local communities," Iwabuchi said.
"There are so many things linked to rice cultivation that bring us together as community members ... collaborative work on cleaning of waterways, seasonal festivals and rituals praying for a rich harvest," he said.
In Niigata prefecture rice-growing households gather at their local shrine in the spring when the shrine priest prays for a bumper season and again in the autumn just before harvesting.
One day, they fear, even prayers may not be enough to save their paddies.
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