WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -During the Tokugawa era, farmers were viewed as the foundation of Japan and granted a social standing just below the samurai class. Yet the government made their lives oppressive and wretched. To keep farmers in the fields and away from urban centers, government forces severely restricted their ability to travel.

Detailed explanation-2: -Since Japan’s mild and humid climate is good for growing this crop, it spread to the rest of Kyushu and to the other islands. Rice became the staple, or main food, of the Japanese diet, with meat, fish, vegetables, and nuts serving as supplements.

Detailed explanation-3: -Japan’s rice sector is supported by high prices paid by consumers that allow many farm households to maintain small rice farms. Japan’s government controls trade within a tariff-rate quota and imposes a prohibitively high tariff on imports outside the quota.

Detailed explanation-4: -Rice signaled wealth and was used to rank one’s social status among the upper elites. From the 7th century to the Edo era (1603-1868), the peasant class were forced to pay taxes to the feudal lords in the form of rice, and the samurai received their salary in rice, which they sold the excess for cash.