The results of a rare, closely watched auction in Japan that ended this week are about to be released. But there were no paintings or antique cars on the auction block.

       The government is selling 165,000 tons of rice — equivalent to roughly two billion bowls — from its emergency stockpile to make up for over 200,000 tons that some Japanese news media say have “disappeared.”

       But there’s more to the story.

       Japan doesn’t have enough rice, a pillar of its diet. A shortage forced supermarkets to implement buying limits, and soaring prices have driven restaurants to hike prices of everyday food. Things have gotten so dire that, for the first time, the government is tapping its emergency stockpile in an effort to drive down prices.

       “Something truly unthinkable is happening, so we must return the current abnormal situation to normal,” Taku Eto, the agriculture minister, told reporters last month, referring to the crisis and the three-day auction that ended on Wednesday.

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       How did this happen? Rice started to become scarce in Japan last summer. Experts have attributed that to a confluence of factors, including record summer heat in 2023 that hurt the harvest and natural disaster warnings last August that sparked panic buying.

       Japan also strictly limits rice production in order to keep prices high and support domestic rice growers, meaning minor disruptions to the supply chain can have disproportionately large impacts.

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