Dan Zheng

Dan Zheng

June 30, 2026

Policy and institutional frameworks, Distribution structures, Consumer inertia.

Japan is a long, narrow country with a climate ranging from subarctic to subtropical, which theoretically provides excellent natural conditions for vegetable diversity. However, at the retail level, a paradox of vegetable diversity has emerged, characterized by “limited variety, low per capita consumption, and prices prone to sharp spikes”. This paper deconstructs vegetable diversity into two dimensions—biological variety and market product diversity—and integrates a comprehensive perspective that combines institutional analysis, distribution economics, and the cultural inertia of food consumption to systematically reveal the three underlying causes: the price stabilization system for “designated vegetables + specific vegetables” locks more than 70% of arable land into 49 “policy varieties” through subsidy thresholds and area-based entry requirements, resulting in “institutional homogenization” at the production level ; a vertical monopoly structure centered on the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA Zen-Noh) suppresses variety diversification into a distribution structure characterized by uniform specifications through stringent grading standards and rigid settlement methods; The “white rice-centered” dietary pattern dating back to the Edo period, combined with a food culture and consumer inertia that prioritizes safety, reassurance, perfect appearance, and seasonal appropriateness, has collectively led the Japanese vegetable system into a low-level equilibrium trap spanning “production–distribution–consumption”, resulting in a paradox of vegetable supply diversity.

© 2026, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license