Iris Ohyama began sales of government stockpiled rice at two of its home center locations in Miyagi and Chiba prefectures on Saturday morning, marking the first time such rice — procured through a discretionary government contract amid sky-high prices for the grain — has been sold at a brick-and-mortar store.
Despite steady rain, lines formed early outside the Unidy Matsudo Tokiwadaira store in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, where numbered tickets were distributed from 8 a.m., with a limit of one bag per person.
The queue snaked from the store entrance around the building and into the parking lot, with around 100 people in line from 6 a.m. Some customers toward the front of the line began lining up as early as 8 p.m. the previous evening, according to Mao Takaoka, a company spokesperson.