WORLD NEWS: "Japan's Changing Tastes Lead to Import Dependence," by Hiroko Tabuchi, Wall Street Journal, 9 April 2008, p. A10.
A generation ago breakfast in Japan is rice, fish and home-grown veggies. Now it's toast from imported wheat, ham from pigs that eat imported grain and ditto for the eggs.
Japan now grows only 39% of its food needs, down from 70% in the 1960s. Body fat rises and heart disease is now the number one killer.
Yes, yes, they're so different and will never change.
The food interdependency that we're just now seeing will only grow with ag production shifting due to global warming. In a quarter century's time, we'll view global food nets as far more economically important, strategically vulnerable, and politically sensitive than energy nets are today.
