The bare necessities

I had the exact same question when I went to Japan.

Apparently, the way the Japanese government works, the rural districts are overly represented in the Diet, with each rural district having the same clout as an urban district, like the U.S. Senate. In other words, for political parties, it is much more favorable to court the rural vote than the urban one. Thus, almost all political parties want the support of the farmers and so promise lots of subsidies and protection from foreign competition. The farmer's associations perpetuate this cycle, because they drop support for political parties if they are not getting their demands.

This results in some ridiculous prices for food staples. When I was in Japan three years ago, I remember that the cheapest 5kg bag of rice was about $20. The only plant that I could afford to eat regularly was cabbage, because fruits like peaches and plums were about $10 each and were usually given as gifts instead of regularly eaten as snacks or dessert.

It never seemed like a hard up place when I visited. Expensive yet, but people seem to be pretty comfortable (perhaps I didn't see a chunk of society that struggle to eat, but I doubt it).