Japanese shoppers braved the rain on Saturday morning to secure cheap rice from the government’s stockpiles, as it hit supermarket shelves amid soaring prices for the staple.
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Household goods supplier Iris Ohyama began selling the rice – procured through a direct contract with the government – at two of its locations at 9am.
It became the first bricks-and-mortar retailer in the country to release the stockpiled grain, narrowly beating supermarket chain Ito Yokado, which launched sales at its branch in Tokyo’s Ota ward an hour later.
In spite of steady rain, a queue began forming early at the Iris Ohyama store in Matsudo city, according to The Japan Times newspaper. It snaked from the store entrance around the building and into the car park, with about 100 people in line by 6am. Some customers had begun lining up as early as 8pm the previous evening.
Numbered tickets were distributed at 8am, with each person limited to one bag of rice.
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The 5kg (11lbs) bags were sold for 2,000 yen (US$14) each before tax – less than half the average price in recent weeks. All of the 65 bags prepared for the day sold out quickly, with many leaving empty-handed.