Want to improve the economy? Get diabetes!

The newest idiotic scheme to improve the Japanese economy from the people who brought you "cement every river" and "work 100-hour weeks" is: eat more rice.

Huh?

Shigeru Ishiba, the Minister for Agriculture and Idiocy, suggests that an additional bite of nutrient-free white rice at every meal will save the Japanese economy. Oh rly? He wants Japan to be more self-sufficient.

How is this going to happen? Even though tariffs on imported rice exceed 700%, rice is still imported. If it wasn't, Mikasa Foods wouldn't be in a world of trouble after the tainted rice scandal earlier this autumn. Even if Japanese people do increase their average annual rice consumption from 60kg to 63kg, that money might be going into the pockets of a farmer in California, Kunming, or the Philippines. Personally, I am not opposed to that, but I'm pretty sure Minister Ishiba's tighty-whities would be permanently knotted if that happened.

The big problem with increasing rice consumption? It's bad for people's health. With all the focus on the Japanese "metabo," a made-up "disease" which takes attention away from the real health problems of diabetes, stomach cancer, and heart disease, you'd think that the Japanese government would try their damndest to get people to eat healthier food, right? Wrong.

White rice is pointless. After the war it was a luxury people could not afford before the war. Just like ugly Louis Vuitton knockoffs, eating white rice is a holdover from the poor days of Japan's past. Everyone in Japan wants to ignore their lack of central heating by pretending they are rich. Eating brown rice (you know, the stuff with nutrients in it) is looked down upon. My own mother-in-law told off my midwife for suggesting it for post-baby regularity. Good thing she's never looked in my pantry.

It's not 1946 anymore. It's time that Japan stopped its focus on unhealthy white rice as its staple food and returned to its roots- by eating high fibre carbohydrates including brown rice. It would be nice to see whole wheat pasta and bread on store shelves as well. The price should be lower than white rice or white bread, because they don't need to overprocess the food to take out all the taste.

Unless the Agriculture Ministry is working with the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare to ensure jobs in the future for Filipina nurses who will take care of those dying due to their unhealthy lifestyle choices.