Potato shortage shines light on Japan's trade policies
The crisis has brought the country's trade policies into focus. Japan's agricultural products market is a relatively closed shop for many products, including potatoes.
The two largest potato chip makers in Japan -- Calbee and Koike-ya -- stopped selling many varieties in early April and say they do not know when they can resume.
Snack makers do import potatoes, but the problem is the difficulty of importing fresh potatoes under Japan's onerous quarantine system. The government argues that the dirt on fresh potatoes could carry pests and pose a risk to Japanese farms.
source: asia.nikkei.com
