Competitors Eat Oodles of Noodles

Japan's new rice harvest is reaching stores at significantly lower prices, with initial trading prices for the 2026 crop falling 42% from a year earlier and some supermarkets selling freshly harvested rice for around 2,000 yen per 5 kilograms, creating an unusual situation in which new rice is cheaper than older stocks.

Foreign business owners in Japan are facing growing financial pressure following a sharp increase in the capital required to obtain a business management visa, with an Indian curry restaurant in Shizuoka warning that it may be forced to close unless its sales quadruple.

A vibrant purple ingredient from the Philippines is gaining popularity around the world, with ube, a type of yam known for its mild sweetness and striking color, emerging as a potential successor to matcha in the global dessert market.

Highly poisonous mushrooms capable of causing severe skin damage through contact and even death if eaten are appearing in large numbers on Mount Takao in western Tokyo, raising concerns for hikers and families as unusually hot summer weather and prolonged autumn rainfall have created ideal conditions for fungal growth.

A long-established noodle shop in Nagoya has become known for extraordinarily large servings, including its signature "Pitcher Koro," a 1.5-kilogram dish combining kishimen, soba and udon in a giant pitcher.

The Hida Taste Festival, a long-running event that began in 1986, is held twice a year in spring and autumn and has become a popular attraction in Takayama. This autumn's festival features 22 vendors offering a wide variety of regional dishes, including grilled Hida beef skewers, mitarashi dango rice dumplings coated in a savory soy-based sauce, and salt-grilled ayu sweetfish.

A massive land-based Atlantic salmon farming facility is taking shape in a mountainous industrial district of Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, where foreign-owned Pure Salmon Japan has begun raising approximately one million young fish as part of an 80 billion yen project that is expected to become one of the world's largest operations of its kind, with plans to ship 10,000 tons of salmon annually from February 2028.

Prices of leafy vegetables are rising sharply across Japan as prolonged rainfall and reduced sunlight in September damage crops and disrupt harvesting, with farmers warning that shortages could continue into winter and push prices even higher during the peak season for hot pot dishes.