Japan Agriculture

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita said Monday that Japan won't comply with foreign demands calling for liberalization of rice imports. It was the first time Takeshita publicly declared his opposition to lifting a ban on importing foreign rice since becoming prime minister last November. "It is natural for us to uphold the objectives of" a Diet resolution calling for improvements in self-sufficiency in food, including rice, Takeshita said during a session of the lower house Budget Committee.

The Japanese government has decided to lower the price it will pay farmers for rice this year, a government spokesman said Wednesday. After a heated debate, the governing Liberal Democratic Party and the Agricultural Ministry decided to recommend that farmers be paid $128 per 132 pounds, 4.6% less than last year's price, Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi said. The price will be proposed to the Rice Council, which advises the agriculture minister, he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita promised Friday to pay more for the U.S. defense of Japan, but downplayed expectations that he might make trade concessions when he visits Washington next week. "I will not be going to the summit meeting with any preset ideas as to what specific issues I shall discuss with (President Reagan), such as farm trade and public works," he told foreign reporters. He said Tokyo had decided to shoulder a greater share of the costs of U.S. military bases in Japan.

The lower house of Japan's Parliament on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution against further opening the nation's rice market to foreign imports. The resolution, passed in a plenary session of the 512-member House of Representatives, is not binding and is only an expression of the members, said a Parliament official who requested anonymity. The action followed a petition filed Wednesday by U.S. rice producers seeking greater access to Japan's protected rice market. The U.S.

The United States and its major economic allies inched toward a compromise Wednesday over how far to go in speeding up the international trade liberalization talks now going on in Geneva, but it seemed likely that the result would fall well short of what Washington had wanted. In late-night bargaining at a ministerial-level meeting of the 24-country Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the two sides narrowed their differences.

The Japanese Cabinet decided Friday to cut by 1.5% the price the government will pay farmers for the 1990 rice crop, Agriculture Minister Tomio Yamamoto said. Japan faces mounting international criticism for its refusal to end a ban on commercial imports of rice, which it has said is needed to protect farmers from cheap imports and to ensure self-sufficiency in Japan's staple food. The reduction, to an average of 83 cents a pound, was recommended by a ministry panel on Wednesday.