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shortage

McDonald’s Japan’s French fry rationing extended for about another month

Good news for those with resolutions to lose weight.

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American businessman promises urgent flights of potatoes to Japan to ease French fry shortage

A golden ray of salty hope shines from across the Pacific.

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McDonald’s Japan to suspend sales of medium and large-size fries for one week

Importation issues are causing a shortage of McDonald’s fries.

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Stop selling oxygen, Japanese flea market app Mercari tells users, as stocks run out

Panic buying takes hold of Japan once more, only this time it’s for oxygen.

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Shortage of chocolatey milk enhancer Milo has Japanese resellers licking their chops

Truly the winter of our discontent.

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Flour products sell online for outrageous prices in Japan as demand for them skyrockets

As the Ministry of Agriculture urges everyone to stay calm and rest assured that there is no shortage of flour. 

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Japanese store curses toilet paper supply to protect it from thefts

Stealing toilet paper is an evil that can only be undone by a greater evil.

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Where’s my Christmas cake?! Seasonal celebrations threatened by nationwide butter shortage

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Japan currently has a pretty severe butter shortage and it’s been going on for a long time. For months grocery stores around the country have been limiting customers to one box of butter at a time, and even then, people are paying hugely inflated prices.

Generally, Japanese cooking doesn’t really use that much butter, so what is all of this stuff being used for exactly? Cakes and cookies. With Christmas just around the corner, and the butter shortage expected to continue for the foreseeable future, a new and very important question has arisen: Will we still be able to eat Christmas cake?! 

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Butter Crisis ’14: Supermarkets nationwide apologize for empty shelves, cakes threatened

For months now a crisis has been brewing in the dairy industries of Japan. However, like the gooey sweetness of a melting pat of butter penetrating the crevices of a piece of toast, the effects have only recently begun to seep into the general population. We’re still only in the early stages though and things are bound to get worse before they get better.

Some readers who live in Japan may have noticed that the cost of butter has been significantly higher in recent months. In other cases shelves have gone empty and purchases are limited to one per person.

Now the writing is smeared on the wall: Japan is running out of butter… and fast.

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Animal Crossing 3DS Countrywide Shortage Prompts Terrified Apology from Nintendo Boss

Animal Crossing: New Leaf, or Tobidase Dōbutsu no Mori as it’s known here in Japan, has officially become Japan’s most wanted videogame, but not simply because of high sales figures.

The game, which allows you to customize and decorate your home or otherwise while away hours at a time exploring a town populated with cute anthropomorphic animals, has been literally impossible to get hold of since the end of November, with staff in electronics stores across Japan simply shrugging their shoulders when asked when they’re expecting to receive new stock.

Despite incredible demand for the title, with the problem “unlikely to be fixed any time soon,” president of Nintendo Japan Satoru Iwata took to the stage this week to apologise to consumers in an official statement punctuated with plenty of long, deep bows and, for the briefest of moments, an expression of absolute terror.

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