Agriculture minister Taku Eto is facing criticism for making insensitive remarks about rice at a time when prices for the staple grain have doubled over the past year.
¡°I have never bought rice. My supporters give me so much rice that, in the food pantry of my house, I have enough to sell it,¡± Eto reportedly said at a fundraising party of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Saga Prefecture on Sunday.
His remarks were first reported in the Saga Shimbun, a local newspaper.
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