The Japanese Butter Crisis

Japan has plenty of rice. But they're running low on butter.

Shops are running short of butter because production hasn't kept pace with demand. That is partly because dairy farmers on Japan's northern Hokkaido island have cut raw milk output amid flagging consumption of milk in recent years. At the same time, dairy producers have allocated more raw milk to cream and milk-based drinks, which often make bigger profits than butter.

The butter shortage is somewhat ironic for Japan, where Westerners centuries ago were told they "smelled of butter."