If there is political will, things like that can be done remarkably quickly. South Korea had a massive shortage of chicken eggs last winter due to an avian inf

If there is political will, things like that can be done remarkably quickly. South Korea had a massive shortage of chicken eggs last winter due to an avian influenza epidemic. It took only a few weeks for the government to start importing fresh eggs from abroad, something that had never been done before. It wasn't enough to get prices down to normal levels, but at least the government acted quick -- especially considering that the nation was in the middle of a Presidential scandal. Unlike South Korea, Japan is essentially a single-party dictatorship. They can pass whatever laws they deem necessary if they really want to. I'm assuming that they don't want to, probably because there's someone who profits from high potato prices.