Agencies<\/p>\n
There are few desserts as beloved in Japan as pudding, though we always have to go through the long-winded discussion that this \u201cpudding\u201d is actually purin. It\u2019s a type of firm custard served with a caramel topping and similar to a creme caramel or flan in other countries.Its soft texture and gentle sweetness make it a treat that people of all ages can enjoy, and it has earned a long-standing reputation as one of Japan\u2019s top-tier snacks. However, Japanese pudding is facing an existential crisis, and it\u2019s all because of the ongoing war in Iran.<\/p>\n
So far, Japan has managed to handle the oil crisis fairly well. A few people were panic-buying toilet paper for a while, but that\u2019s par for the course, and gas prices have risen, but just a few months earlier, the government removed a tax on gasoline. <\/p>\n
As a result, gas prices basically just rose more or less back to their taxed levels which people always had to deal with.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, cracks are beginning to appear in the country\u2019s supply of naptha, an essential component in the production of plastics. <\/p>\n
Originally, the government said there was enough oil in reserves to last four months, but industries are saying the reality is only two months.<\/p>\n
As proof, some pudding makers are already announcing that they may not be able to produce any more by the end of May.The reason for this is that pudding is usually packaged in plastic cups, and without naptha, they won\u2019t be able to make any more cups and have nothing to sell their pudding in.<\/p>\n
Of course, alternatives such as paper and glass exist, but they would require a huge overhaul of manufacturing and still rely heavily on oil. <\/p>\n
Paper cups usually use a naptha-based film to waterproof the inside, and glass requires a great deal of heat to make. So, even if they went to the trouble of revamping their factories, they\u2019d probably just end up in the same situation.<\/p>\n
And although pudding makers are among the first to cry uncle at the current oil crisis, with plastic being such a big part of our daily lives, this is a problem that will affect just about every business out there at some point. Readers of the news were quick to point this out, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I look at supermarket shelves, I can\u2019t find anything that isn\u2019t plastic.\u201d \u201cThey won\u2019t be able to build houses either.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re cutting off our pudding?\u201d \u201cIf they can\u2019t make pudding then how can they make anything else?\u201d \u201cSo, charging for plastic bags was a good idea after all?!\u201d \u201cThis is even worse than rising prices. It\u2019s just going away.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHow many garbage bags do we have left as a country?\u201d \u201cI read that tofu containers and plastic wrap are also in a bad situation.\u201d Now that they mention it, tofu has a very similar consistency to pudding, and has existed in Japan well before the advent of plastic packaging, or any kind of mass production for that matter.<\/p>\n
So, how did people buy it back then? There were two ways, the first of which involved bringing your own bowl or bucket to the tofu shop and getting a fresh slice to take home. The other way was to wait for the Tofu Man to come to your neighborhood with a bucket of tofu. He\u2019d announce his arrival by playing a horn called a charumera.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agencies There are few desserts as beloved in Japan as pudding, though we always have to go through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[217,215,96,14,214,410,216,12989,12988,12987,1018],"class_list":{"0":"post-16161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-business-of-japan","10":"tag-in","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-japans-business","13":"tag-japans","14":"tag-japanese-business","15":"tag-production","16":"tag-pudding","17":"tag-threatening","18":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}