Farming in Japan has experienced economic inefficiency but has not dissuaded some Japanese from choosing to become either full or part-time farmers.
In 2012 around 4% of the total work force in Japan was categorized as "agricultural workers", which was much higher than the United States (2.6%), England (1.5%) and Germany (2.8%).
One was that until the 1994 electoral reform, farmers were able to provide more organized political support such as votes, as consumers are more diffused and unorganized, making it difficult to collectively act and lobby.
[3] Two party competition & political mobilization around 2008 contributed to the government's increased effort to raise citizens’ concerns for food self-sufficiency issue.
Kazuhito Yamashita has claimed that this has resulted in an increase of government debt and makes agricultural protectionism no longer affordable.
Yamashita also claims that trade liberalization is beneficial, as it lowers the food price and helps the government get rid of excessive subsidization of farmers.