In a few weeks, freshly harvested rice will be arriving on the shelves of Japan's supermarkets. This is called shinmai and usually in fall, consumers spurn the old rice - komai - in favor of the fresh white crop. This year, everything is different.

One shopkeeper explains he has bought up all his suppliers' stocks of komai because customers are hoarding it ahead of the winter. "Some even wanted 20 kilos in advance. They think last year's rice is safer."

The government has ordered rice paddies to be tested for radiation before the harvest, and rice to be tested again before going on sale but this has consumers are not taking any chances. One mother of three says she has been careful about all her purchases since the disaster in Fukushima. "I haven't yet bought up stocks of old rice but I intend to buy enough to get through the winter. I’m buying rice from the western part of Japan."

She says she is sorry for the farmers in the regions affected by the nuclear disaster that was triggered by an earthquake and tsunami in March, but she thinks it is better to be safe than sorry. Her attitude reflects that of many Japanese consumers who have started to doubt the government's repeated assurances that the food on the shelves of their supermarkets is safe to eat.

Contaminated beef

Recently sales of beef from the Fukushima, Tochigi, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures were banned, after it was found to contain higher levels of radiation than is considered safe. The cattle had been fed contaminated straw.

However, the ban was not imposed before some of the meat had reached the store shelves. The mother of three says that she only goes to stores she trusts to buy meat. "But an unpleasant feeling remains. I try not to think of radiation when I eat beef."

A disastrous peach season

In Fukushima, sales of fruit and vegetables have plunged by between 70 and 90 percent since the multiple disasters struck in March. Yet, the farmers there think their products are fine and want people to come see for themselves. One says they should come now at the height of the peach season since nobody is buying the fruit and yet it tastes fine.

A new website listing all the different products in the region of Fukushima and the radiation levels is supposed to help reassure Japanese consumers.

Although the farmers and fishermen in the region, who since March 12 have not been able to exercise their profession, have been promised compensation by the government and Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, this has been a long time coming and involves long unwieldy procedures. The decontamination of land that has tested negatively for radiation is also a difficult time-consuming process. The farmers hope nonetheless that their lives will return to normal in the not-too-distant future.

Author: Peter Kujath / act
Editor: Sachin Gaur