Any food shortage in Osaka or Kyoto?

Any food shortage in Osaka or Kyoto?

There is no food shortage anywhere in Japan except possibly in some of the worst hit areas along the Pacific coast in the Tohoku Region, although even there the situation with food supply is steadily improving.

But there is no food shortage anywhere else, especially not in Osaka and Kyoto, which have not been directly affected by the disaster.

I can't help but wonder what image the international media has painted of Japan...

Just from what I have read, Tokyo is a ghost town with irradiated babies and food everywhere is contaminated.

I am not glowing, my friends and family are not starving, the stores are not empty!

In the end, irresponsible media writing "shock" articles may harm the Japanese economy more than any natural disaster...

well it's off the front pages over here (Oz) now, replaced by the usual sex and drugs with celebrities. In fact the only mention of it today on ninemsn is that they found a baby dolphin in a rice paddy. While it doesnt diminish the tragedy, I think it is good that the negativity is on the decline. I'm 2 months away from my (fifth) trip, counting down the days...

the foreign press may well be exaggerating the situation, but there ARE food shortages. The press didn't make up the pictures of empty shelves.

sure, the problem may be due more to panic buying and distribution than a shortage per se/. Even where i live in kansai and we are 99% not affected, bottled water is in short supply. I had to send a food package to a relative in Tokyo because he couldn't get food because he didn't have the time to stand in line for 2 hours.

now with the radiation problem, and power outages, food supply will continue to be disrupted.

here, the dolphin was reported as a porpoise...

here, the dolphin was reported as a porpoise...

Not sure what the implication is between calling it a porpoise vs. a dolphin, but Japanese news outlets like Asahi and Reuters Japan headline that a dolphin was found in a rice field, and later in the article describe the species as a black finless porpoise. Either way, its a nice story of survival amid all the destruction.

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0322/TKY201103220507.html

in english:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110323/lf_nm_life/us_japan_dolphin

I had to send a food package to a relative in Tokyo because he couldn't get food because he didn't have the time to stand in line for 2 hours.

This is really odd. Stand in line in Tokyo for 2 hours to buy what? And where?

While shops were low on or completely out of things like milk, bread, toilet paper and instant noodles for a while, plenty of other staples have been available- no-one will starve if they can't have milk or bread for a couple of days. We never had any trouble finding cereal, pasta, pasta sauce, meat, fish, freshly prepared food like korokke and tempura, vegetables, fruit, cookies, chocolate, snacks, beer and many other items.

Things like bread, rice and eggs were only off the shelves for a few days and have been in plentiful supply in most places since late last week. Milk, and natto are the only things that have been in low supply the whole time since the quake. Nappies/diapers and toilet paper were sold out for a few days, but have been easily available for over a week now in most stores.

Supermarkets were crowded the first weekend after the earthquake as people stocked up, and have been pretty much normal since then other than during the rush for water on Thursday. For every photo of an empty shelf, you can be sure that the next shelf over is as full as usual, but of course the media will only show the empty shelves, full ones aren't interesting.

Water sold out right after the earthquake and then again after the higher radiation levels were reported, but that's a different issue really.

The so-called "food shortages" in Tokyo have only ever been more of an inconvenience than anything else- the people who really need food packages are those in Tohoku, and people in Tokyo should consider themselves very fortunate in comparison- I know I do.

"For every photo of an empty shelf, you can be sure that the next shelf over is as full as usual, but of course the media will only show the empty shelves, full ones aren't interesting."

In fact, I noticed on TV that if you looked closely at those pictures "empty shelves", many of them were actually pictures of the sweets section!

No one is going hungry because they can't have their Lawson's roll cake.

Bottled water is a different issue but people, you really can't trust the media to convey the "truth" anymore. Their "truth" is ALWAYS tied into ratings!

low supply of my beloved NATTO noooo!!! the end is nigh -_-

Food shortages? You must be kidding ...

I saw an article about natto and yogurt shortages but in running errands today I went to two super markets and one drug store.

They all had a large variety of both natto and yogurt so I guess it really depends on in which city you live.

The only thing that remains noticeably absent from shelves is bottled water.

That said, everything seems more expensive now that compared to before 3/11.

Waiting in line doesn't necessarily mean food shortage...
there are waiting lines in some of the most expensive and exclusive deli and groceries in Paris as you aren' t allowed to help yourself to the products...after being served one wait again at the cash registers..

Same thing in a great little deli in my home town in Western Canada..
Heck...we even wait to order at Starbucks...then wait again for our drink to be made...

Bic Jayanta,

To answer your question, there is basically no food shortage in Kyoto where I just came back from, and probably not in Osaka either. A slight lack of certain brands of bottled water, but nothing serious as there are plenty of alternatives of a very similar kind.

As for Tokyo area (if you're ever interested), yogurt and natto which was abundant right after the 11th is now lacking in certain parts of Tokyo. This is because a factory that does the fermenting was damaged and I have friends who say they can't find yogurt anywhere in their neighborhood. Water fit for infants is short, too, so I sent a case from Kyoto for a friend with a newborn in Tokyo.