A message from Hiroshi Sakurai
chairman of DASSAI & DASSAI BLUE
2026.01.30
On January 20, we once again held this year’s Yamada Nishiki Contest award ceremony at the Imperial Hotel. This year, Mr. Kawasaki from Shiga won the Grand Prix, and Mr. Suzuki of Tochigi Mogura Farm took the Runner-up Grand Prix honors.
Mr. Kawasaki, the Grand Prix winner, received a prize of 40 million yen, and Mr. Suzuki, the Runner-up, received 15 million yen.
Mr. Kawasaki commented, “Receiving such a dream-like award leaves me truly overwhelmed with emotion. Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, I hope that my children and grandchildren will win this prize and invite me back to this very seat.” Hearing these words moved us deeply as well.
Mr. Suzuki, the Runner-up, also shared moving words: “There were many times I almost gave up. But last year, when I saw Mr. Fumiya Saotome from the same Tochigi prefecture win the Grand Prix, I decided to challenge myself once again.” As organizers, we could not have asked for more gratifying words. Congratulations to both of them.
Prior to the award announcement, we held what has recently become an annual panel discussion under the theme: “The Future of Japanese Agriculture and the Potential of Sake Rice.” This year, we invited Mr. Masaharu Kamo, Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company, to raise structural issues surrounding Japanese rice production as he sees them. Special judge Mr. Kenshi Hirokane and I then shared our perspectives.
Mr. Kamo is also a member of a Japan Association of Corporate Executives committee dealing with rice policy issues. We invited him because we had heard that he brings a broad, well-balanced perspective on this issue from the standpoint of the Japanese economy. (Apparently, Mr. Kamo is so brilliant that colleagues sometimes joke they “can’t keep up with him” when working together—but when speaking with us, he graciously adjusts his level and never flaunts his exceptional intellect. Truly impressive.)
Agricultural issues tend to be framed from a narrow view point. The media often focuses on consumers who see last year’s sharp rise in rice prices simply as a problem. On the other hand, agricultural policy politicians and agricultural cooperatives argue that high prices must be maintained to protect farmers. Both sides tend to argue strictly from their own positions, making the situation difficult to understand from the outside. There are also sake brewers saying, “Sake rice is too expensive—we can’t make sake.” In short, everyone speaks from their own convenience, making it hard to discern what is truly right or what should actually be done.
Why, in the first place, does Dassai alone need to hold such a symposium? The reason lies in Dassai’s unique position. Dassai uses only Yamada Nishiki rice, and in extraordinary quantities—10,000 tons. Compared to Japan’s total table rice production of 7.48 million tons, this is a considerable amount. It even exceeds the total sake rice usage (9,000 tons) of all breweries in Akita Prefecture, a well-known sake-producing region. Moreover, I have publicly stated that we aim to reach 100 billion yen in global sales—five times our current level—so our need for Yamada Nishiki will only increase.
For Dassai, therefore, the future of rice production is a critical issue that affects our very survival.
Returning to the symposium, Mr. Kamo pointed out that over 80% of Japanese farms operate on 3 hectares or less. Meanwhile, as farm size increases, production costs—especially labor—drop significantly. Therefore, Japanese agriculture, where farmland consolidation has not progressed, suffers from enormous opportunity losses.
What concerned me most is that while so-called full-time professional farmers account for only 20% of all farm households, they produce just 40% of total output. In other words, the common “20:80 rule” seen in business does not apply here. In one sense, this shows that recent government agricultural protection policies have succeeded. However, viewed from another angle, it suggests that the industry is in a state where meaningful development is extremely difficult. Sixty percent of production comes from farmers who are not fully committed as their primary business.
Under such conditions, can the market really expect reasonably priced, adequately high-quality rice that is productive and profitable for farmers? And can Dassai continue to secure the superior-quality Yamada Nishiki we desire—even if it is expensive?
In conclusion, I believe Japanese rice farming cannot be revitalized without a process of natural selection. What makes this especially concerning is that we now live in an era of globalization and international competition. Japan once ranked among the top in yield per unit area, but today we lag far behind Australia and the United States, and even behind China. If domestic rice prices remain high, consumers will increasingly turn away from rice, and foreign rice will inevitably enter the market, pushing prices down to what the market deems appropriate.
Trying to maintain current rice prices through policy alone is unrealistic, no matter how hard agricultural policy politicians work. One cannot go against the broader tide. The real danger at that point would not be the collapse of the 80% part-time farmers, but the 20% professional farmers. If we resist necessary consolidation, we risk repeating what happened to the sake industry, where resisting restructuring led to overall decline and collapse.
So what will Dassai do?
To be honest, I am pessimistic. Unfortunately, I do not believe that Japan’s agricultural stakeholders or government will choose the path of consolidation. Most likely, the industry will be gradually deteriorating under a convoy-style, collectively protected system.
However, even if that is the broader trajectory of Japanese agriculture, Dassai cannot simply sit by and watch the farmers who have supplied us collapse. As I declared at the event: “Dassai will maintain this year’s purchase price for Yamada Nishiki for the next three years.”
This year, Dassai’s purchase price for Yamada Nishiki is higher than the industry average, as we have incorporated the surge in table rice prices. Although we anticipate a drop in table rice prices this spring, we have no intention of lowering our purchase price. Yamada Nishiki farming is capital-intensive, and farmers require stable income to support their investments. We want to avoid wild price fluctuations. And most importantly, we want farmers to feel that “growing Yamada Nishiki for Dassai was the right decision.” We want them to focus on improving quality with peace of mind.
We believe that increasing the number of farmers who pursue quality and continuously innovate technologically will ultimately revitalize Japanese rice agriculture as a whole.
These were the thoughts I shared at the conclusion of the symposium.
