Domestic media reported that Japanese farm minister Taku Eto resigned on Wednesday.

ETO said on Sunday that he never bought rice because he received a lot of cereals as gifts from supporters - a comment that struggled with locals, struggling at the price of a beloved staple.

Due to the bad weather, Japan has been struggling to get rice prices, as well as the country’s long-term insurance policy to protect the crimp supply of local farmers’ interests.

Taku's resignation ahead of the key House of Lords election this summer comes as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government has been working hard to approve the rating ahead of tariff negotiations with the U.S. NHK world, reporting that former Environment Minister Koizumi Shinjiro will replace Eto.

According to a poll by Kyodo News, Ishiba's cabinet approval rate has dropped to an all-time low of 27.4%, as the government has grown dissatisfied as it fails to address the pace of high rice prices and rejects the excise tax relief that upset inflation.

Although Japan's Ministry of Agriculture has been trying to curb the price surge by freeing government stocks, the move has little effect on price increases.

Rice prices in about 1,000 supermarkets nationwide were reportedly climbing to high prices all the time in history from May 11 to the week ended. The price of a bag of 5kg rice rose by 54 yen to 4,268 yen ($29.63) per week.

"After the shortage of rice in the summer of 2024 and subsequent high prices, prices are still soaring despite new domestic crops and record-breaking import volumes," the USDA said in a March report.

Frederic Neumann, chief Asian economist at HSBC, said the surge in rice prices reflects the lingering impact of last year's poor harvest, with domestic rice consumption being supported by most local production rather than imports.

Sayuri Shirai, a professor of economics at Keio University’s School of Policy Management, said the problem with the supply is that Japanese rice is mainly produced by older people who run small farms, so they are not very efficient.

"The Japanese are like Japanese rice. They really don't like foreign rice," she said.

Japan's rice economy remains fairly isolated from the world market, and severe tariffs on imported rice are designed to protect its rice farmers.

Even worse, the professor noted that demand for Japanese rice soared on the back of advanced tourism footsteps.

Tucker, chief economist at the Japan Risk Forum, said that the sharp rise in rice prices is also partly attributed to panic-driven hoc accumulations among households and businesses.

He told CNBC that while some retailers announced plans to import rice, unfamiliarity with rice among consumers and businesses makes it unlikely that such imports will meaningfully alleviate the imbalance between supply and demand.

Inflation in Japan rose 3.6% in March. Although that figure is below 3.7% in February, it still marks the title inflation figure has remained above the Bank of Japan's 2% target for three consecutive years.

"It's high compared to the United States or Europe," Shirai said, adding that the inflation picture in Japan is related to cost pressures that are mainly from food prices.

"That's why a lot of consumers are very angry," Shirai said.

In addition, cheap yen makes food imports expensive, she noted.

According to the Food Procurement and Data Center Tridge, Japan imports 60% of its food supply. The country's food self-sufficiency ratio is 38%, while the government's target is 45% by fiscal 2030.