Despite Typhoon Ida's depredations, Japan's rice farmers were counting their blessings last week. By the time Ida struck, the vast bulk of Japan's rice had already been harvested, and peasant pockets were ajingle with the proceeds of the nation's fourth bumper crop (400 million bushels) in as many years.
Along with jingling pockets went expanded appetites. In the quiet little village of Ichijo, 235 miles north of Tokyo, Mrs. Hatsue Sato gazed on her new refrigerator, giggled happily. "Now we have it, we don't know quite what to do with it," she said. "My mother-in-law still insists on cooling the melons in...
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